Page 153 - Module DMV20173

8.0 POWDER PROCESSING

9.3 PROCESSING OF CERAMIC POWDERS

1. Ceramics are compounds of metallic and nonmetallic elements.
2. Ceramics can be divided into two general categories:

(a) Traditional ceramics—ceramic materials that obtained naturally in minerals
such as clay, bauxite, shales.
(b) Industrial ceramics (also called engineering, high-tech, or fine ceramics) -
cermic materilas that obtained in chemical processing such as nitride,

carbide, alumina, zirconia, silicon.

Example 8.3:
State some applications of the traditional ceramics and engineering
ceramics?

Solution:
Traditional ceramics : Pottery, brick, tiles.
Engineering ceramics : cutting tool, automotive parts, electronic parts.

9.3.1 RAW MATERIALS

1. Raw materials for ceramics mostly are found in nature such as flint (a rock
composed of very fine-grained silica) and feldspar (a group of crystalline minerals
consisting of aluminum silicates plus potassium, calcium, or sodium).

2. Traditional raw materials used for making ceramics is clay, which has a fine-
grained sheet-like structure.
3. Categories of ceramic raw materials include:
a) From natural deposits (clay, bauxite, shales)
b) Refined industrial mineral (feldspar, kyanite, zircon)

c) Industrial chemical processing (alumina, magnesia, nitride)

Think
Some of the ceramic resources mineral in Malaysia.

9.3.2 MANUFACTURING PROCESSES OF CERAMIC MATERIALS

1. Several techniques are available for processing ceramics into useful products
depending on the type of ceramics involved and their shapes.
2. The procedure to produce ceramic product involves the following steps:

BPLK 185 DMV 20173