Organic Materials

Contents
Ceramic Materials
Crystalline Ceramic Structures and
imperfections in it
Silicate Structures
Glasses and other non- crystalline ceramic
materials
Deformation and failures, Processing of
Ceramics, Applications of ceramics
Ceramics
Those containing phases that are compounds
of metallic & nonmetallic elements.
Processing of earthly materials by heat.
Inorganic, nonmetallic solids prepared by the
action of heat & subsequent cooling.
May contain ionic, covalent or both bonds.
Properties
In general ceramics share the following properties:
Hard
High compressive strength
Able to withstand high temperatures
Very good resistance to acidic or caustic environment

But keep the following in mind:

Brittle
Weak tensional strength
Weak flexural strength
Weak resistance against shear stress
Limited machinability
Limited forming capabilities
Limited bonding capabilities
Building criteria for crystal str.
Maintain neutrality
Achieve closest packing
Charge balance dictates chemical formula
Condition for minimum energy implies max.
attraction & min. repulsion.
Impurity atoms
As substitutional or interstitial solid solutions
Substitutional ions substitute for ions of like
type.
Interstitial ions are small compared to host str.
Solubility is higher if ion radii & charges
match closely.
Incorporation of ion with different charge
state requires compensation by point defects.
Silicate Structures
Silicate=silicon + Oxygen, the two most
abundant elements in earths crust. (rocks, soil,
clay, sand)
Basic building block: Si04
Glasses

Non crystalline(Amorphous) ceramic.

Fused silica is Si02 to which no impurities
have been added.
Other common glasses contain impurity ions
like Na+, Ca2+, Al3+, B3+
Imperfections in
ceramics
Point defects
Impurities
Their formation is strongly affected by the condition
of charge neutrality (creation of unbalanced charges
requires the expenditure of a large amount of
energy.)

Charge neutral defects include the Frenkel and

Schottky defects.
AFrenkel-defectis a vacancy- interstitial pair of
cations (placing large anions in an interstitial position
requires a lot of energy in lattice distortion).
ASchottky-defectis the a pair of nearby cation and
anion vacancies.
Sheet glass forming
Deformation & failure
Brittle fracture of ceramics limits applications.
-occurs d/t unavoidable presence of microscopic
flaws(micro cracks, internal pores, atm.
contaminants) that result during cooling from
melt.
-Flaws cant be closely controlled in mfg, this
leads to large variability in fracture strength .
 10 times
Compressive strength Tensile strength
Good structural materials under compression
(bricks in houses, stone blocks in pyramids) but
not in conditions of tensile stress.
Plastic deformation in crystalline ceramics is by
Slip, d/t the structure & strong local potentials.
Very little deformation before fracture.
Non crystalline ceramics like common glass
deform by viscous flow. Viscocity decreases
strongly with increase in temp.
 Ceramics
Used to produce commercial products that are
very diverse in size, shape, detail, complexity,
material composition, structure & cost.
Natural result of an increasing ability to refine,
develop & Characterize ceramic materials.
Application of heat upon processed clays & other
natural raw materials to form a rigid product.
Naturally occuring rocks & minerals as starting
mtl must undergo special processing to control
purity, particle size, size distribution &
heterogenity.
Chemically prepared powder/ Synthetic mtl .
starting mtl
Contd..
Next step: Form ceramics particles to desired
shape
By addition of water and/or additives such as
binders, followed by a shape forming process.
Methods include Extrusion, slip casting,
pressing, tape casting, injection moulding etc
After this, undergo sintering(Heat treatment)
to produce a finished product.
 Bricks
High Voltage insulators,
Spark plugs
Biomedical applications
Glass ceramics-optical
equipment & fibre
insulation
Refractories
Applications