ceramics (sərăm`ĭks), materials made of nonmetallic minerals that have been permanently hardened by firing at a high temperature, or objects made of such materials. Most ceramics resist heat and chemicals and are poor conductors of heat and electricity. Traditional ceramics are made of clay and other natural occurring materials, while modern high-tech ceramics use silicon carbide, alumina, and other specially purified or synthetic raw materials. Ceramic materials are used in all forms of pottery pottery, the baked-clay wares of the entire ceramics field. For a description of the nature of the material, see clay .

Types of Pottery

It usually falls into three main classes—porous-bodied pottery, stoneware , and porcelain .
..... Click the link for more information. , from crude earthenware earthenware, form of pottery fired at relatively low temperatures, so that the clay does not vitrify (become glassy), as do stoneware and porcelain clays. Occasionally, earthenware is used as a general term for all kinds of pottery.
..... Click the link for more information. to the finest porcelain porcelain [Ital. porcellana], white, hard, permanent, nonporous pottery having translucence which is resonant when struck. Porcelain was first made by the Chinese to withstand the great heat generated in certain parts of their kilns.
..... Click the link for more information. , and in industrial and engineering products. Ceramic products include cookware and dinnerware; art objects, such as figurines; building materials, such as brick brick, ceramic structural material that, in modern times, is made by pressing clay into blocks and firing them to the requisite hardness in a kiln. Bricks in their most primitive form were not fired but were hardened by being dried in the sun.
..... Click the link for more information. ; abrasives abrasive, material used to grind, smooth, cut, or polish another substance. Natural abrasives include sand , pumice , corundum , and ground quartz . Carborundum ( silicon carbide ) and alumina (aluminum oxide) are important synthetically produced abrasives.
..... Click the link for more information. , such as alumina alumina (əl
..... Click the link for more information. , and specialized cutting tools; electrical equipment, such as insulators in spark plugs; refractories, such as firebrick firebrick, brick that can withstand high temperatures, used to line flues, stacks, furnaces, and fireplaces. In general, such bricks have high melting points that range from about 2,800°F; (1.540°C;) for fireclay to 4,000°F; (2,200°C;) for silicon carbide.
..... Click the link for more information. and the heat shield on the space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank.
..... Click the link for more information. ; and artificial bones and medical devices. The oldest known fired ceramics date from the Paleolithic period some 27,000 years ago.

ceramics

Traditionally, objects created from such naturally occurring raw materials as clay minerals and quartz sand, by shaping the material and then hardening it by firing at high temperatures to make the object stronger, harder, and less permeable to fluids. The principal ceramic products are containers, tableware, bricks, and tiles. See also earthenware, porcelain, pottery, stoneware, terra-cotta.

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Types of Pottery

ceramics

ceramics