Ceramics and glass

1. Classification of ceramics
2. Mechanical properties of ceramics in
comparison with metals
3. Processing of ceramics and glasses
The families of engineering materials
Metals
High moduli, high ductility

Ceramics
High moduli, lacking in ductility (brittle)

Glasses
Non-crystalline (amorphous) solid, hard, brittle and
vulnerable to stress concentrations

Polymers (plastics)
Low moduli (50 times less than those of metals), easy to
shape

Elastomers
long-chain polymers

Composite
Combinations of two or more materials, light, stiff, and
strong, and they can be tough
Periodic table with ceramics compounds
indicated by a combination of one or more
metallic elements (in light color) with one or
more nonmetallic elements (in dark color).
What are ceramics?

1. Compounds between metallic and nonmetallic

elements (C, N, O, P, S)
2. To be most frequently silicates, oxides, nitrides and
carbides
3. Typically insulative to the passage of electricity and
heat
4. More resistant to high temperatures and harsh
environments than metals and polymers
5. Hard but very brittle
Spectrum of ceramics uses
 Classification of ceramic materials

1. Crystalline ceramics
Silicates, oxides, nonoxides compounds
2. Glasses – noncrystalline solids
Silicates, nonsilicates
3. Glass-Ceramics
Initially formed as glasses, then crystallized in a
carefully controlled heat treatment
4. Carbon materials
Graphite
Diamond
Fullerenes and nanotubes
 Crystalline Structure

SiO272%
Na2O and CaO 28%

a ceramic (crystalline) and a glass (non-crystalline)

Crystalline structure - atoms of the material are arranged in a

regular and repeating manner
The relative abundance of elements in the earth’s crust
illustrates the availablility of ceramics minerals, especially
the silicates
Silicate – composed primarily of silicon
and oxygen

A silicon-oxygen (SiO44-) tetrahedron

•Basic unit of the silicates
•Negatively charged entity
•Covalent character to the interatomic Si-O
bonds
•Each of the four oxygen atoms requires an
extra electron to achieve a stable electronic
structure
silicates
SiO2-based silicates

1. Pottery, burnt claywares, from 4000 BC

2. Whitewares, fired ceramics
3. Clay, basis of structural clay products (brick, tile, sewer,
etc.)
4. Refractory, high-temperature-resistant structural materials
Nonsilicate oxide ceramics

Nuclear ceramic- a
widely used reactor fuel

Partially stabilized
zirconia (PSZ)

Electronic ceramics

Magnetic ceramics
Nonoxide ceramics

Furnace heating
elements
abrasive materials
Superior gas-turbine
component
Hardness
(GPa) (kg/mm2)
Silicate glass
Vitreous silica
High-purity siO2, without any
network modifier, service
temp. > 1000ºC
Borosilicate glasses
with network former B2O3 and
network modifier Al2O3,
chemical labware and cooking
ware
E-glass
Glass fibers, used in the fiber-
reinforcing composite materials
Glaze
Glass coating applied to ceramics
Copper enamel
Glass coating applied to metals,
protective barrier, against
envirnoments corrosive to the metal
Nonsilicate glasses
Little commercial value due to their reactivity with e.g.
with water vapor
Useful additions to silicate glasses, e.g. B2O3
Special properties,
Chalcogenide (S, Se, Te Po) glass, semiconductors
Zirconium tetrafluoride (ZrF4), glass fibe, superior
light transmission in the infrared region
Glass-ceramics

Nucleating agent, e.g. TiO2, giving a nuclei density as high as 1012/mm3

Glass-ceramics

1. The ability to be formed into a production shape, as

economically and precisely as glasses
2. Crystallization of glassy material (>90%) by a carefully
controlled heat treatment, the final crystallite grain size 0.1-1
µm
3. Residual glass phase fills the grain boundary volume,
creating a pore-free structure
4. Mechanical and thermal-shock resistance far superior to that
of conventional ceramics (due to the elimination of stress-
concentration pores and their low thermal expansion
coefficients))
P390
Glass-ceramics are closely
associated with nucleation
and growth kinetics.
The products are formed
as glasses and are then
carefully crystallized to
produce a poly-crystalline
product.
The result can be relatively
strong ceramics formed in
complex shapes for
modest cost.
Bright field Dark field

TEM study of the HIPed silicon nitride.

The material contains β-silicon nitride and relatively large amount of
residual glassy phase. Some regions of this glassy phase contain smaller
grains. A thin intergranular amorphous phase is visible between adjacent
grains.
An impurity particle and a pore formed in the HIPed silicon
nitride. TEM
Carbon materials – in various polymorphic forms

1. Diamend
2. Graphite
3. Fullerense and nanotubes

A unit cell for the diamond cubic crystal

structure (diamond, Ge, Si, and grey tin
below 13ºC)
Diamond

1. Extremely hard
2. Very low electrical conductility
3. Unusually high thermal conductivity
4. Optically tramsparent and with a high
index of refraction
SEM micrograph of a diamond
5. Metastable carbon polymorph thin film in which is shown
numerous multifaced
6. synthetic diamonds, from 1950’s
microcrystals
• Thin film of diamond
(thickness<1mm)
• Polycrystalline
• Applications: surface of drills,
dies, bearings knifes, and saws
Graphite
1. More stable than diamond
2. Weak interplanar bonds (van
der Waals type of bond)
3. Interplanar cleavage –
excellent lubricative properties
4. High electrical conductivity
5. High strength and good
chemical stability at elevated
temperatures
6. High resistance to thermal
The structure of graphite
shock
7. Used as heating elements for
electric furnace, electrodes,
high temperature refractories
and insulations
Fullerenes and nanotubes

Discovered in 1985, referred as

buckministerfullerene or buckball
A single molecule of 60 carbon
atoms
A hallow spherical cluster of 60
atoms (20 hexagons and 12
pentagons)

The structure of C60 molecule

 The structure of a carbon nanotube

1. A single sheet of graphite rolled into a tube, both ends of

which are capped with C60 fullerene hemispheres
2. Tube diameter, on the order of a nanometer (< 100 nm)
3. Each nanotube is a a single molecule
4. Multiple-walled or single-walled carbon nanotubes
5. Strong and stiff, and relatively ductile( e.g. tensile
strength, 50-200 GPa; elastic modulus ,1TPa (1TPa = 103
GPa); fracture strain, 5-20%). ”ultimate fiber”
Mechanical properties of ceramics in
comparison with metals
Strain-stress behaviour for brittle
materials in comparison with metals

The brittle nature of fracture in

ceramics is illustrated by a stress-
strain curve.
Stress-strain curve of a metallic
The stress-strain behaviour of brittle material
ceramics is not usually ascertained by
a tensile test.
Brittle fracture of ceramics and glasses

MT7150 – HT05 Applied Engineering Materials

The modulus of rupture (MOR)

MOR = 3FL / (2bh2)

MT7150 – HT05 Applied Engineering Materials

 Fracture toughness

KIC: the critical (C) value of the stress intensity factor

at a crack tip necessary to produce failure under simple
uniaxial loading (mode I)

KIC = Yσf ( π a) 1/2

1. Y: geometry factor, on the order of 1

2. σf the overall applied stress at failure
3. a: the length of a surface crack (one-half
the length of an internal crack)
4. Unit of KIC: MPa • m1/2
a
5. Defect sensitivity

a
 Two mechanisms for improving fracture
toughness of ceramics by crack arrest (p278)

Transformation toughening of partially

stabilized zirconia involves the stress
induced transformation of tetragonal
grains to the monoclinic structure. The Microcracks produced
result is a local volume expansion at the during fabrication of the
crack tip, squeezing the crack shut and ceramic can blunt the
producing a sesidual compressive advancing crack tip
stress.
 Binder or
pores glue phase
or bonding
agent

Possible microstructures of engineering ceramics:

(a) A sigle-phase sintered polycrystal ceramic; (b) a vitrified
structure showing particles held together with glassy phase;
(c) ceramics reforced with fibers from other ceramic system;
and (d) structure of ceramics containing two different phases.
Processing of ceramics and glasses
 (a) Schematic
illustration of the
slip casting of
ceramics. The slip
is a powder - water
mixture.

(b) Much of that water

is absorbed into the
porous mold. The final
form must be fired at
elevated temperatures
to produce a
structurally strong
piece.
Sintering
Densification of a particulate ceramic compact
involving a removal of the pores between the
starting particles (accompanied by equivalent
shrinkage) combined with coalescence and strong
bonding between adjacent particles

Sintering aid
A chemical additive that enhances sintering
Hot isostatic pressing
The formation of a glass
container requires careful
control of the material’s
viscosity at various
stages