Ceramic materials are inorganic, non-metallic materials made from compounds of a metal and a non metal. Ceramic materials may be crystalline or partly crystalline. They are formed by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Clay was one of the earliest materials used to produce ceramics, but many different ceramic materials are now used in domestic, industrial and building products. Ceramic materials tend to be strong, stiff, brittle, chemically inert, and non-conductors of heat and electricity, but their properties vary widely. For example, porcelain is widely used to make electrical insulators, but some ceramic compounds are superconductors.
Read more about Ceramic Materials: Types of Ceramic Materials, Properties of Ceramics, Examples of Ceramics Materials
Famous quotes containing the words ceramic and/or materials:
“He had first discovered a propensity for savagery in the acrid lavatories of a minor English public school where he used to press the heads of the new boys into the ceramic bowl and pull the flush upon them to drown their gurgling protests.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“Artists, whatever their medium, make selections from the abounding materials of life, and organize these selections into works that are under the control of the artist.... In relation to the inclusiveness and literally endless intricacy of life, art is arbitrary, symbolic and abstracted. That is its value and the source of its own kind of order and coherence.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)