Ceramic Processing

• Ceramics are light

weight, with corrosion
and wear resistance as
well as high temperature
strength
• Ceramics have high
strength but are brittle
(sensitive to flaws
• Dimensional stability and
accuracy
• Parts range from tiny to
large BUT strength varies
inversely with size
(volume or surface area)!
What are Ceramics
• Ceramics are compounds of
metals and non metals
• Advanced Ceramic (structural,
technical or fine): highly
engineered, high performance
predominantly non-metallic
inorganic ceramic matrial
having specific functional
properties
• Unique atomic bonding:
covalent (sharing) and ionic
(give up)
• Crystalline lattice structure:
cubic, etc. or amorphous
(glasses)
Properties of Ceramics
• Probabilistic properties due to
distributions of flaws
• ASTM standards address many
aspects of these properties
• Low fracture toughness (<10 MPa
√m)
• High strengths at small volumes
(>1 GPa)
• Low CTE (2-4 x 10-6 /°C)
• High Hardness (1 GPa)
• High Stiffness (300-600 GPa)
Processing of Ceramics
• Natural vs
Manufactured
• Conventional
(traditional) vs Non
conventional
• As-processed vs
machined
Processing of Ceramics
• Natural Ceramics -
SiO2 and SiO4 along
with hydrated
alumino silicate (e.g.
2(OH)4Al2Si2O5)
• Can be used directly,
or processed to
further refine
• Examples:
amorphous SiO2 is
glass, crystalline SiO2
is fused silica or
quartz; single crystal
Al2O3 is sapphire.
Processing of Ceramics
• Manufactured
Ceramics - SiC,
Si3N4, Al2O3, B4C,
BN, TiB2, TiO2 etc
• Usually require
decomposition and
recomposition into
powders
• Often dissociate (i.e.,
do not “melt” at high
temperatures in the
“right” environment)
Processing of Ceramics
• Conventional
Processing
- Powder Preparation
- Consolidation of
Powders: Dry
Pressing, Wet
Pressing, “Casting”
- Drying
- Green Machining
- Sintering (or hot
compaction)
- Final machining
(AWJ, diamond
grinding)
Processing of Ceramics
• Non Conventional
Processing
- Sol-gel
- Vapor Deposition
(CVD or PVD)
- Polymer Derived
- SHS (self propagating
high temperature
synthesis)
- Directed Metal
Oxidation
- Reaction Forming
Processing of Ceramics
• As fired
- At best ±3%
variability in
dimension
- Rough surfaces
- Low Straightness
/flatness
Processing of Ceramics
• Machining
- Diamond Grinding
- Lapping Honing,
Polishing
- USM (ultra sonic
machining)
- AWJ (abrasive water
jet)
- LBM (last beam
machining)
- EDM (electro
discharge machining)
Designing with Ceramics

• Brittle Materials
Design
- Probabilistic methods
- Strength statistics
- Stress raisers
- Reliability
- Volume/area effects