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Ceramic

A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature.[1][2] Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, and brick.

This article is about the material properties of ceramics. For other uses, see Ceramic (disambiguation).

The earliest ceramics made by humans were brick walls used for building houses and other structures, while pottery objects (pots, vessels, or vases) or figurines made from clay, either by itself or mixed with other materials like silica, hardened and sintered in fire is the common belief of how ceramic was made. Later, ceramics were glazed and fired to create smooth, colored surfaces, decreasing porosity through the use of glassy, amorphous ceramic coatings on top of the crystalline ceramic substrates.[3] Ceramics now include domestic, industrial, and building products, as well as a wide range of materials developed for use in advanced ceramic engineering, such as semiconductors.


The word ceramic comes from the Ancient Greek word κεραμικός (keramikós), meaning "of or for pottery"[4] (from κέραμος (kéramos) 'potter's clay, tile, pottery').[5] The earliest known mention of the root ceram- is the Mycenaean Greek ke-ra-me-we, workers of ceramic, written in Linear B syllabic script.[6] The word ceramic can be used as an adjective to describe a material, product, or process, or it may be used as a noun, either singular or, more commonly, as the plural noun ceramics.[7]

Products[edit]

By usage[edit]

For convenience, ceramic products are usually divided into four main types; these are shown below with some examples:[18]

 – chemistry of ceramic glaze

Ceramic chemistry

 – Science and technology of creating objects from inorganic, non-metallic materials

Ceramic engineering

Ceramic nanoparticle

 – Composite material consisting of ceramic fibers in a ceramic matrix

Ceramic matrix composite

 – Decorative objects made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery

Ceramic art

 – Result of thermal treatment

Pottery fracture

Guy, John (1986). Guy, John (ed.). (illustrated, revised ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195825930. Retrieved 24 April 2014.

Oriental trade ceramics in South-East Asia, ninth to sixteenth centuries: with a catalogue of Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai wares in Australian collections

Ceramics Science and Technology