The Nature of Ceramics

Abstract

At one time the term ceramics was normally confined to pottery and similar fired clay products. Modern usage of the word often includes artificial non-metallic inorganic materials in general (mostly compounds of metallic and non-metallic elements) including glass, brick, cement and concrete, and many rocks and minerals. Ceramics generally rely on ionic—covalent bonding, which means that the valence electrons are localised. Such materials therefore tend to be poor conductors of heat and electricity. The bonding is relatively strong, in many cases stronger than metallic bonding, with the result that ceramics tend to be resistant to heat and chemicals. A major drawback is their brittleness.