Advanced ceramics - an overview

Abstract

In sharp contrast to conventional ceramics, advanced ceramics use extensively processed starting materials of controlled purity and particle size, and novel fabrication techniques such as tape casting, chemical vapour deposition, in situ oxidation, injection moulding, followed by fast, often low temperature, sintering. Advanced ceramics exhibit unusual behaviour at times and quantum jumps in properties. Improved fracture toughness of structural ceramics makes them suitable candidates for stringent engineering applications. Composites involving special ceramics display some outstanding properties, e.g. piezoelectrics. Examples of dielectrics, super conductors, optical fibres and ionic conductors are cited.