Comparison – Metals v Ceramics 

1. PROPERTIES OF CERAMICS

• Extreme hardness
• High wear resistance
• Extreme hardness can reduce the wear caused by friction
• Corrosion resistance
  • Heat resistance
  • Low electrical conductivity
  • Low thermal conductivity
  • Low thermal expansion
  • Poor thermal shock resistance
  • Low ductility
  • Very brittle
  • High elastic modulus
  • Low toughness
  • Low fracture toughness
  • Indicates the ability of a crack or flaw to produce a catastrophic failure
  • Low density
  • Porosity affects properties
  • High strength at elevated temperatures

• Comparison – Metals v Ceramics 

Metals are solid substances, which are opaque and have excellent electric conductance. Metals have the property of ductility and malleability.

A non-metallic inorganic material made up of a mixture of metal and non-metal compounds is known as ceramic. Ceramic materials are brittle and hard by nature.

The differences between metal and ceramic are as follows:

• Ceramic materials are harder than metals and because of this, can be used to cut metals.
• Metals have a lower melting point than ceramic materials.
• Metals are typically ductile, and ceramics are brittle by nature.
• Metals can bend without breaking, but ceramics break on little deformation, as ceramics typically are brittle.
• Metals have the property of electrical conductivity, but ceramics do not conduct electricity.
• Metals pass heat through them as they are thermal conductors, while ceramics do not allow heat to pass through them as they are thermal insulators.

Examples of application of ceramics:

1. Ceramics are used to cut metals.
2. Ceramics are used to hold a molten state of the metal.
3. Ceramics are used in turbocharger rotors.

Examples of application of metals:

1. Metals are used to manufacture the utensils used in daily needs and machine components with complex geometries.
2. Metals are used to make electric cables and transmission lines.
3. Metals are used to make ornaments.

Definition 

• Ceramic materials are inorganic, non-metallic materials and things made from them.
• They may be crystalline or partly crystalline.
• They are formed by the action of heat and subsequent cooling.
• Most ceramics are compounds between metallic and non-metallic elements for which the interatomic bonds are either ionic bonds or predominantly ionic but have the same covalent character.
• 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.
• A wide-ranging group of materials whose ingredients are clays, sand, and feldspar
• The term “Ceramics” comes from the Greek word koromikos, which means “Burnt stuff or drinking vessel”, indicating that desirable properties of these materials are normally achieved through a high-temperature heat treatment process called Firing, but was later applied by the Greeks to all fired clay products.

• SPECTRUM OF CERAMICS USES – https://www.explainthatstuff.com/ceramics.html