Processing of Ceramics
KKKM4672
Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering
Faculty Engineering & Built Environment
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Tel : +603-89217190, +013-6020796
Email : afiqah@ukm.edu.my
Nabilah Afiqah Mohd Radzuan (PhD)
Researchgate ID: Nabilah-Mohd-Radzuan
Technical Editor,
Jurnal Kejuruteraan (Journal of Engineering) Scopus : Mohd Radzuan, Nabilah Afiqah
(UKM Engineering Journal)
(ISSN 0128-0198, eISSN 2289-7526)
http://www.ukm.my/jkukm/
What are ceramic materials?

• Inorganic, nonmetallic materials that consist of metallic

and nonmetallic elements bonded together primarily by
ionic and/ or covalent bonds
• Its chemical compositions vary considerably, from simple
compounds to mixtures of many complex phases
bonded together.
• Ceramics used for engineering applications
• Traditional ceramic materials
• Advanced ceramic materials
2
Classification
of Main
Material
Groups

Ceramics Matrix Composites

3
 Fine
Coarse

Ceramic
Materials

4
5
Application

Traditional ceramics Advanced ceramics

• Whitewares • Electronic substrate • Nuclear ceramics
• Structural clay products • Capacitor dielectric • Bioceramics
• Brick / tiles • Magnetic • Automotive ceramics
• Abrasives • Optical
• Cement • Conductive
• Refactories
Artificial/chemically modified raw materials

Natural raw materials (clay mineral)

6
 Selection criteria
• Raw material cost
• Market factors
Raw • Technical process
Materials parameters
• Performance of the desired
product
• Market price of the product
7
 Raw materials
Naturally occurring minerals Synthetic materials

• Original location that can be found • Borides

• Relatively abundance
• Natural raw materials required extraction
• Minerals go through either physical/chemical
processing before use (beneficiation).
• Carbides
• Nitrides
• Oxides (Ti)2, Al,O3 etc)
• Expensive, commonly used
• Imvolved special processing enviroments

8
Raw Materials-Natural
Category Purity (%) Materials

Crude materials Variable Shales, stoneware clay, tile clay, crude bauxite, crude kyanite, natural ball clay,
bentonite

Industrial minerals 85-98 Ball clay, kaolin, refined bentonite, pyrophyllite, talc, feldspar, nepheline syenite,
wollastonite, spodumene, glasss and, potter’s flint(quartz), kyanite, bauxite,
zircon, rutile, chrome ore, calcined kaolin, dolomite

Industrial inorganic 98-99.9 Calcined alumina(Bayer process), calcined magnesia(from brines, seawater),
chemicals fused alumina, fused magnesia, aluminum nitride,silicon carbide, silicon nitride,
barium carbonate, titania, calcined titanates, iron oxide, calcined ferrites,
zirconia, stabilized zirconia, calcined zirconates

Special inorganic >99.9 Various materials (Si3N4, TiB2, SiC, BN, etc)
chemicals
9
Raw Materials-Natural

10
 Raw Materials-Synthetic
Oxides

Alumina Refractories, abrasive, substrate

Ceria Catalysts, Fuel cells, polishing
Ferrites Magnets
Magnesia Refractories
Rulite and anatase Paints
Zincite Rubbers, adhesives
zicronia Additives, furnace components

Chemically produced > achieve a high chemical purity and to obtain suitable powders for component
fabrication

11
12
 Raw Materials-Synthetic
Non-oxides
SiC Abrasives, harsh environment electronic packing
TiC Bearing, cutting tools
AlN Electronic packing
Si3N4 Gas turbine, diesel component
ZrB4 Thermowell tubes
C Graphite, solid lubricant, diamond

Non-oxide ceramics did not occur naturally, need to be synthesized

- Combine metal directly with the nonmetal at high temperatures
- Reduce the oxide with carbon at high temperature and subsequently react it with nonmetal

13
 Clay cliff
+ water An example: The naturally occurring
form of the compound sodium
chloride is the mineral halite.
feldspar Minerals
defined as
Naturally occurring Inorganic substances

Chemical compositionCharacteristic physical properties

How?
- Mechanical weathering (physical disintegration of rock
(no chemical alteration involve)
- Chemical weathering (chemical alteration of minerals
within rocks, soften/dissolving the minerals, forming
clays, oxides and solutes)
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Silicates
Production of synthetic, amorphous and
crystalline sodium dissilicates

15
Preparation of ceramics powders
• the multi-stage cyclone separation in a kaolin
preparation plant.
• The fines sediment in large slurry tanks, a procedure
which we know from sewage works.
• After sedimentation and filtration the material is dried
in drying aggregates and stored in silos or transported
in bags to the customers

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Preparation of ceramics powders
• The material is transported
on conveyors from the mine
to a preparation hall.
• The first log washer
separates the coarse grains
from the fine ones.
• The coarse material
sediments on the bottom and
is transported by bowls to
the next step of separation.
• The fine suspension is
separated at the other side of
the log washer and
transported to these
cyclones.
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Preparation of ceramics powders
• Before, the mixture is
cleaned in sieves and the
fines are separated from
the coarsest grains.
• The coarse material is
carried on to bunkers
before the materials are
pick up to get it crushed.
• But first it has to undergo
several sieve levels and log
washers where the coarse
fraction is again separated
from the finer one.

18
Preparation of ceramics powders
• Most ceramic products are made by the agglomeration of particles.
• The raw materials for these products vary, depending on the required
properties of the finished ceramic part.
• The particles and other ingredients such as binders and lubricants may
be blended wet and dry.
• For ceramic products that do not have very “critical” properties such as
common bricks, sewer pipe, and other clay products, the blending of
the ingredients with water is common practice.
• For some other ceramic products, the raw materials are ground dry
along with binders and other additives.
• Sometimes wet and dry processing of raw materials are combined.

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 Preparation of ceramics powders

Powder feedstock Fabricate

rheology
CPVP Mixing? PIM
- internal
Mixing? mixer
- internal mixer - Brabender
- Brabender GmbH GmbH
Crusher

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Preparation of ceramics powders-Example

Bahan suapan:
1.CPVP (ASTM D-281-31)
2.Reologi (ASTM D3835-02)

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Hidroksiapatit (HA) Preparation of ceramics powders

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 CPVC
• The powder loading - not only ensured low feedstock viscosity but
having minimal defects and improved mechanical properties.
• optimal powder loading range typically depends on the critical powder
volume concentration (CPVC)
• The increase in feedstock viscosity was also affected by the increase in
surface area, due to its small particle variations.
• The improved composition of small particles simultaneously increased
the surface area and caused agglomeration.
• Basically, the submicronic particles had a higher surface area, and, to
cover each particle, a higher fraction of binder was required

http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/mjas-2016-2003-30
23
https://doi.org/10.3390/met10050595
 Oliec acid

CPVC
• The addition of oil to the mixture had a
marginal effect on raising the torque during the
initial stage.
• The powder particle layer absorbed the oil, and
with the stabilization of the mixing torque, the
formation of clusters took place.
• The large increase of the torque was fostered
by the extended clusters which continued to be
unstable at the point of CPVC where the
addition of oil with the mixture was carried
out.
• Phenomena such as dilation of the solid
structure and enhancement of the interparticle
distance occurred when further liquid was
added to the mixture

24
https://doi.org/10.3390/met10050595
 Pembebanan serbuk kritikal
ASTM D-281-31

Torque
35
Pembebanan
30
serbuk
(nm) (Nm)

25 73 % optimum
bagi
Daya kilas

20
komposit
Torque

15
Ti_HA adalah
10 68 vol.%
5
(Ariffin et al.
2015)
0

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Time
Masa (min)
(min)
• Pembebanan serbuk optimum adalah 2-5
% < pembebanan serbuk kritikal
• Pembebanan serbuk 68, 69 dan 70 vol.%
merupakan pembebanan optimum dan
seterusnya ditentukan melalui sifat
reologi
Pengacuan Suntikan Serbuk Komposit Titanium-hidroksiapatit Berliang. (2019) Mohd Yusuf bin Zakaria, Prof. Ir. Dr. Abu Bakar
Sulong, Prof. Dr. Norhamidi Muhamad, Prof. Madya. Dr. Muhammad Hussain Ismail
 Rheology
• Mechanism not only to prefigure the
flow behavior
• rheological properties - the viscosity
profiling of the feedstock based on
temperature against shear rate
• reduction of viscosity with
increasing shear rate denoted as
pseudoplastic behavior or shear
thinning
• pseudoplastic behavior not only
secures the efficient filling of the
mold cavity but also upgrades the
effectiveness of the shape
retention of the injection molded part

26
https://doi.org/10.3390/met10050595
 Rheology
• As for pseudoplastic behavior, the
correlation between viscosity (η) and shear
rate (Y) can be expressed by the equation :
η= KYn-1
where ηand K are the flow behavior index and
a constant, respectively. Basically, the shear
sensitivity degree is indicated by η.
• The pseudoplastic and dilatant behaviors are
displayed by the feedstocks when the value
of ηis smaller and greater than 1,
respectively.
• The smaller is the value of η, the faster
the viscosity changes with the shear rate.
27
https://doi.org/10.3390/met10050595
 Ceramics
Research Group
SP-3: A study the role and mechanism of Argentum and superparamagnetic material on the
properties of wollastonite-based bioglass material for biomedical applications
Finding SP 3(Objective 4): To investigate and identify the underlying formation process as well as further interactions
wollastonite-mullite with Ag and superparamagnetic (γ-Fe2O3) nanoparticle

The morphology of PSW/20%M disc composite sintered at 800˚C, 1000˚C, and 1150˚C shows the
densification that occurred and reduce in porosity
γ-Fe2O3 raw characterizations

The VSM result shows ferromagnetic properties instead of

superparamagnetic

Successfully evaluate and establish new formulation using localized wollastonite with significant enhancement of antibacterial and
magnetic properties. Sintered specimen show comparable bioactivity, bioresobarble, biocompatibility, toxicity, antibacterials and
magnetic properties of the wollastonite-mullite/ Ag biomagnet bioactive glass with reference HA . 28
 SP-1: Effect of Processing Parameters on Novel Metal-Ceramic Composite Through Powder
Injection Molding
Current Finding SP-1 (Objective 3): To establish new parameters in the fabrication of metal-ceramic composites (bone
implants) through PIM which enable to have physcial, mechanical and biomaterial (in-vitro) properties close and/or better
than of human bone. Mechanical Ti:WA Ti:HA Porous
140

120

properties (90:10)) (90:10)

Kebolehhidupan sel (%)

100

Density 4.13~4.20 g/cm3 3.06 g/cm3 80

60

Shrinkage 5-7 % 5~8% 40

Hardness 410.05 HV 133.67 HV (1.3

20

(4.021 GPa) Gpa) 0 20 40 60

Kepekatan (%)
80 100

Flexural 76.35 MPa 1.86 MPa Injected part

strength
Debound part
E (Young’s 14.57 – 18.10 0.3 GPa
Modulus) GPa (porosity 37.03%)
Sintered part

Sintered Ti6Al4V/WA Sintered Ti6Al4V/HA Porous

Successfully establish new processing parameters in fabrication of metal-ceramic composites

through PIM process. Fabricated composite Ti6Al4V/WA sintered part proved to be non-toxic and
able to promotes cells growth with the mechanical properties within the range of human bone’s
strength (10 – 30 GPa). Highly potential application for bone implant 29
 SP-2: Metal-ceramic based scaffolds and its regulation on stem cell behaviours
T ita n iu m P u re L e e c h a te F o u n d in M e d iu m H A P u re L e e c h a te F o u n d in M e d iu m W A P u re L e e c h a te F o u n d in M e d iu m
Ti-HA Ti-WA
25000 25000 25000

ICP-MS

C o n c e n tr a tio n (µ g /L )
C o n c e n tr a tio n (µ g /L )

C o n c e n tr a tio n (µ g /L )
20000 20000 20000

15000 15000 15000

10000 10000 10000

5000 5000 5000

0 0 0

i
Ti

a
b

P
i

i
Ti
Ti

a
a

b
b

P
P

S
S
S

C
P
C
C

P
P
E le m e n ts E le m e n ts E le m e n ts

T i-H A L e e c h a te F o u n d in M e d iu m T i-W A L e e c h a te F o u n d in M e d iu m

25000 25000

C o n c e n tr a tio n (µ g /L )
C o n c e n tr a tio n (µ g /L )
20000 20000

15000 15000

Lymphocyte proliferation assay via Flow Cytometry 10000 10000

5000 5000

0 0

i
Ti

a
b

S
i
Ti

a
b

C
P
S

C
P
E le m e n ts E le m e n ts

Co-culture of MSCs + LPS + CSFE stained PBMCs

Conclusion
Successfully show ability of metal-ceramic (Ti6Al4V/wollastonite-based bioglass) composite to mediate mesenchymal stem cells
osteogenic differentiation via in-vitro, and immunomodulation as potential bone implant. The effect of mesenchymal stem cells
towards the Titanium Wollastonite has shown to produce significant cellular bonding and attachment to the material whereby the cells
can further differentiate to bone should the body 30