STRUCTURES AND

PROPERTIES OF CERAMICS
Prepared by:
GROUP 5

CERAMICS

Bonding in Ceramics
Electronegativity - a measure of how willing atoms are to accept
electrons (subshells with one electron - low electronegativity; subshells
with one missing electron high electronegativity). Electronegativity
increases from left to right.
The atomic bonding in ceramics is mixed, ionic and covalent, the degree
of ionic character depends on the difference of electronegativity
between the cations (+) and anions (-).

Structure Of Ceramic Materials

The following factors affect structure of ceramics:
Balance of electrical charges of anions and cations
Radius Ratio (rc/ra)
Where
rc radius of cation;
ra radius of anion.
Radius Ratio determines Coordination Number (CN) the maximum number of
anion nearest neighbors for a cation.The anion neighbors do not touch each
other.

Coordination Number
CN
r/R
2 0<r/R<0.15
5
3 0.155r/R<
0.225
4 0.225r/R<
0.414
6 0.414r/R<
0.732
8 0.732r/R<
1

Example: KCl
K+ r=0.133nm, Cl- R=0.188nm, r/R = 0.71,
CN = 6
Example: CsCl
Cs+ r=0.165nm, Cl- R=0.188nm, r/R = 0.91,
CN = 8
Example: Al2O3
Al+3 r=0.057nm, O-2 R=0.132 nm, r/R = 0.43,
CN = 6

Crystal Structure

Crystal structure is defined by:

Magnitude of the electrical charge on each ion. Charge balance
dictates chemical formula (Ca2+ and F- form CaF2).
Relative sizes of the cations and anions. Cations wants maximum
possible number of anion nearest neighbors and vice-versa.

 Stable ceramic crystal structures: anions surrounding a cation are all in

contact with that cation. For a specific coordination number there is a
critical or minimum cationanion radius ratio rC/rA for which this contact
can be maintained.

Silicate Ceramics

Oxygen and Silicon are the most abundant

elements in Earths crust
Their combination (silicates) occur in rocks, soils,
clays and sand.
Si-O bonding is largely covalent, with Si4+ as the
cation and O2- as the anion.
rSi = 0.04 nm, rO.= 0.14 nm, so rC/rA = 0.286.
From table, this implies coordination number = 4,
that is tetrahedral coordination

Technical Porcelain
Technical Porcelain generally consists of silica (SiO2) and alumina
(Al2O3). The natural ingredients of these components are quartz,
feldspar, soapstone and clay (kaolin).
Depending on the proportion of silica and alumina in material
composition two types of porcelain may be prepared: quartz porcelain or
alumina porcelain.
Alumina porcelain contains higher amount of more expensive alumina
and possesses higher mechanical strength, than silica porcelain.

The following characteristics are typical for Technical Porcelain:

High mechanical strength;

Excellent dielectric properties;
High chemical resistance.
Technical porcelain is generally used in electrical engineering as a good
insulator.

Magnesium Silicates

Magnesium Silicates (Steatite and Cordierite) consist of silica (SiO2),

magnesia (MgO) and some alumina (Al2O3).
The natural ingredients of Magnesium Silicates are soapstone, clay,
corundum, mullite.

The following characteristics are typical for Steatite:

High mechanical strength;
Good dielectric properties;
Very low loss factor;
Soapstone is relatively soft because of its high talc content
Soapstone is used in heat engineering and in electrical engineering for
manufacturing sockets, control housings, insulating beads, low-voltage
power fuses and base plates

The following characteristics are typical for Cordierite:

Lowcoefficient of thermal expansion;
Highthermal shock resistance;
Good mechanical strength.
Cordierite is used mostly in heat engineering for manufacturing supports of
heating elements, parts of water heaters, pipes of heating element, gas
heater inserts, spark protectors and catalyst carriers in automobiles.

CARBON

Carbon is an element that exists in various polymorphic forms,

as well as in the amorphous state

Treatment of the carbon materials will focus on the structures

and characteristics of graphite, diamond, the fullerenes, and
carbon nanotubes, and, in addition, on their current and potential
uses

Diamond

A transparent crystal, with the carbon

atoms arranged in a tetrahedral lattice.
A poor electrical conductor.
An excellent thermal conductor
renowned as a material with superlative
physical qualities
It is extremely hard (the hardest known
material)

Graphite

it has a crystal structure .

more stable than diamond at ambient
temperature and pressure
Other desirable properties of graphite include the
following: high strength and good chemical
stability at elevated temperatures and in
nonoxidizing atmospheres, high thermal
conductivity, low coefficient of thermal expansion
and high resistance to thermal shock, high
adsorption of gases, and good machinability

Fullerenes
Thefullerenesare a large class of allotropes of carbon and are made of
balls, cages or tubes of carbon atoms. Buckminster fullereneis one
type of fullerene. Its molecules have 60 carbon atoms arranged in a
hollow sphere
Nanotubesare fullerenes that can be used to reinforce graphite in tennis
rackets because they are very strong. They are also used as
semiconductors in electrical circuits.

IMPERFECTIONS IN CERAMICS

Atomic Point Defects

Atomic defects involving host atoms may exist in ceramic
compounds. As with metals, both vacancies and interstitials are
possible; however, since ceramic materials contain ions of at least
two kinds, defects for each ion type may occur. For example, in
NaCl, Na interstitials and vacancies and Cl interstitials and
vacancies may exist. It is highly improbable that there would be
appreciable concentrations of anion interstitials. The anion is
relatively large, and to fit into a small interstitial position,
substantial strains on the surrounding ions must be introduced

Diffusion in Ionic Materials

It usually occurs by a vacancy mechanism. In order to

maintain charge neutrality in an ionic material, the
following may be said about vacancies:
Ion vacancies occur in pairs,
They form in nonstoichiometric compounds and
They are created by substitutional impurity ions having
different charge states than the host ions.

CERAMIC PHASE DIAGRAM

Phase diagrams have been experimentally determined for a large
number of ceramic systems. For binary or two component phase
diagram, it is frequently the case that the two components are
compounds that share a common element, often oxygen. These
diagrams may have configuration similar to metal-metal systems, and
they are interpreted in the same way.

THE Al2O3- Cr2O3 SYSTEM

One of the relative simple
ceramic phase diagrams is that
found for the aluminium oxidechromium oxide system. This
diagram has the same form as the
isomorphous copper-nickel phase
diagram. The Al2O3- Cr2O3 solid
solution is a substitutional one in
which Al substitutes for Cr, and
vice versa. Both Al2O3 and Cr2O3
have the same crystal structure.

THE MgO-Al2O3 SYSTEM

There
exist
an
intermediate
phase,
a
compound called spinel. Even
though spinel is a distinct
compound, it is represented
on the phase diagram as a
single-phase field rather than
a vertical line

THE ZrO2 CaO SYSTEM

Another important binary ceramic
system is that for zirconium oxide
and calcium oxide.
ZrO2 phase having three different
crystal structures exist in the
system: tetragonal, monoclinic and
cubic

THE SiO-Al2O3 SYSTEM

Commercially, the silica-alumina
system is an important one since
the principal constituents of many
ceramic refractories are these two
materials. The polymorphic form of
silica that is stable at these
temperature is termed as
cristobalite.

Mechanical Properties

Brittle Fracture of Ceramics

Plane Strain Fracture Toughness

Applied stress

Dimension parameters
Length of a
Surface crack

Strain Behavior

CRYSTALLINE CERAMICS
difficulty of slip or dislocation motion
ions of like charge - slip is very restricted, plastic deformation is
rarely measurable at room temperature
metals - more slip systems are operable and more facile
highly covalent - slip is also difficult and brittle

NONCRYSTALLINE CERAMICS
viscous flow
viscosity (P)

INFLUENCE OF POROSITY
deleterious to the flexural strength
pores reduce the cross-sectional area across which a load is
applied
act as stress concentrators

CREEP
result of exposure to stresses (usually compressive) at elevated
temperatures
occurs at high temperatures

GROUP 5
EE 3104
MACATANGAY, ANGELO
BOOL, VERONICA
JUSI, MARENELLA
CORNEJO, HEIDI
CUYA, KIMBERLY