Other Ceramic Developments

The number of oxides is large since most metallic elements form stable compounds with oxygen, either as single or mixed oxides. However, the CVD of many of these materials has yet to be investigated and generally this area of CVD has lagged behind the CVD of other ceramic materials, such as metals, carbides, or nitrides. The CVD of oxides has been slower to develop than other thin-film processes, particularly in optical applications where evaporation. 

Individuals whose jobs expose them to unusually high particulate concentrations are especially susceptible to health problems from the pollutant. For example, men and women who work with the mineral asbestos are very prone to development of a serious and usually fatal condition known as asbestosis, in which fibers of the mineral become embedded in the interstices (the empty spaces within tissue) of the lung. Similar conditions are observed among coal workers who inhale coal dust (pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease) textile workers (byssinosis, or brown lung disease) those who work with clay, brick, silica, glass, and other ceramic materials (silicosis) and workers exposed to high levels of beryllium fumes (berylliosis). 

The number of course programmes is directly proportional to the demand made by trade and industry. Many factors have been of influence on this instruction, among others the Gibbs phase rule (see the chapter on Phase rule), X-ray diffraction to clarify the structure of solids and the development of synthetic barium titanate and other ceramic materials whose properties could be influenced by controlling composition and process conditions. As early as 1900 it became clear that the study of ceramics required much knowledge of other subjects, as appears from the Ohio State University s course programme of that year. 

In the following sections some examples are given of the ways in which these principles have been utilized. The first example is the use of these techniques for the low temperature preparation of oxide ceramics such as silica. This process can also be used to produce alumina, titanium oxide, or other metal oxides. The second example describes the conversion of organic polymers to carbon fiber, a process that was probably the inspiration for the later development of routes to a range of non-oxide ceramics. Following this are brief reviews of processes that lead to the formation of silicon carbide, silicon nitride, boron nitride, and aluminum nitride, plus an introduction to the synthesis of other ceramics such as phosphorus nitride, nitrogen-phosphorus-boron materials, and an example of a transition metal-containing ceramic material. 

Polymeric precursors have been developed which are stable at room temperature and when polymerized convert to ceramics in high yield. Such precursors may be synthesized by reaction of a vinylsilane, vinylmethylsilane, acetylene silane, or acetylene alkyl silane with a borane or a borane amine derivative The reactants are mixed in an inert atmosphere, either neat or in an aprotic solvent like acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran, or a hydrocarbon, or in a mixture of such solvents. The reaction mixture is heated for 0.1 to 120 h at 90-170°C. The solvent, if any, is then removed. The polymer is pyrolyzed in argon or N2 at SOO-ISOO C for 1 h. BN and other ceramics such as B4C, or SipB QNs compounds can be made, where p, q, r, and s have various numerical values. To date, no measurements of the crystallographic form of the resultant BN compound have been made. Other precursors convertible to BN include poly (2-vinylpentaborane) oligomers. ... 

In a much later stage of development, other ceramics that were not clay-or silicate-based depended on much more sophisticated raw materials, such as binary oxides, carbides, perovskites, and even completely synthetic materials for which there are no natural equivalents. The microstructures of these modern ceramics were at least an order of magnitude finer and more homogeneous and much less porous than those of their traditional counterparts. It is the latter — the modern or technical ceramics — with which this book is mainly concerned. 

As in the history of other ceramics, the great progress in refractories was partly due to developments in scientific understanding and the use of new characterization methods. Development of phase equilibrium diagrams and the use of X-ray diffraction and light microscopy increased the understanding of the action of slags and fluxes on refractories, and also of the effect of composition on the properties of the refractories. 

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