CERAMI CS

GROUP 2 INDUSTRIAL POWER PLANT INSPECTION

History
Archeologists have uncovered human-made ceramics that date back to at least 24,000 BC. These ceramics were found in Czechoslovakia and were in the form of animal and human figurines, slabs, and balls. These ceramics were made of animal fat and bone mixed with bone ash and a fine claylike material. After forming, the ceramics were fired at temperatures between 500-800C in domed and horseshoe shaped kilns partially dug into the ground with loess walls.

History
The clays contained some kaolin, but were not porcelain white. Glazes were limited in color and frequently did not fire to a smooth surface. Still, these high-fired and durable pots were such an advance over clay pots that China dominated the world in production of fine pottery for centuries.

History
The history of ceramics begins with earthenware. Thousands of years ago, humans learned how to make earthenware vessels by kneading, forming and firing clay. Prior to this discovery, the only other manmade items were stone tools made by chipping rocks. In this sense, earthenware could be called "the root of all industrial products." After the Stone Age, countless advancements were made over the millennia before Fine Ceramics appeared as we know them today.

History

History of Pottery in Japan

The history of pottery in Japan dates back over 10,000 years ago to the Jomon period (14,000 - 400 B.C.). The Jomon people, a society of hunters, were among the first in the world to create pottery vessels. Their earthenware is characterized by a distinctive rope-like pattern. Japan's subsequent Yayoi period (500 B.C. 300 A.D.) brought the advent of rice cultivation, along with "Yayoi ware" pottery in various shapes. The Yayoi fired clay vessels surrounded by piled wood at temperatures ranging from 600 to 800oC (1,112 1,472oF). This method is called Noyaki, or "open-firing."

History
About 1,500 years ago, a new firing method using a tunneled, sloping kiln (Anagama) was introduced from Korea. In this method, clay shaped on a potter's wheel was fired at temperatures of over 1,000oC (1,832oF) for extended periods. Vessels made using this method are called "Sue ware."

History

Jomon Ware Deep Bowl (Middle Period)

Yayoi Ware Deep Bowl

Sue Ware Pot with Handles

History
In the 19th century, with the invention of the electric light by Thomas Alva Edison and the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell, a new era which could be referred to as the "era of electricity" began. Ceramics, previously used only as vessels, started to play entirely new roles suited to this new era. In general, ceramics do not conduct electricity. Compared to other insulators, such as paper and wood, ceramics are less affected by environmental factors such as temperature and humidity, giving ceramic components higher reliability. Through the history of ceramics going back more than 10,000 years, we have learned modeling technology to produce ceramic products in a myriad of shapes. Ceramics have thus come into widespread use as insulators or as insulating materials in areas ranging from power lines to household products, and have become important materials that allow people to use electricity easily.

Types of Ceramics
Metallic Oxides Glass Ceramics Nitrides and Carbides Glass Carbon and Graphite Porcelain Ceramic Fibers

Metallic Oxide

Metallic Oxide
Alumina Beryllium

Oxide

Zirconia

Alumina
ALUMINA Alumina is the most widely used advanced ceramic material. It offers very good performance in terms of wear resistance, corrosion resistance and strength at a reasonable price. Its high dielectric properties are beneficial in electronic products.

Applications include armor, semiconductor processing equipment parts, faucet disc valves, seals, electronic substrates and industrial machine components.

Alumina

Abundant and easily fabricated. Good strength and hardness. Wear and Temperature Resistant. Good electrical insulators. Low dielectric loss.

Beryllium Oxides

Beryllium Oxides
Exceptionally

high thermal conductivities (for ceramics) at low to moderate temperatures.

Zirconia

Extreme inertness to most metals. Good toughness and strength.

Glass Ceramics

Low, medium or high thermal expansion depending on composition type. Good electrical insulators. Transparent One can be machined with steel tools.

Nitrides and Carbides

Silicon Nitrides
Resistant

to high temperatures, to thermal stress and shock. High strength and oxidation resistant. Good electrical insulators.

Boron Carbide
High

hardness and low density. Best abrasion resistance of any ceramic. Low strength at high temperatures.

Nitrides and Carbides

Silicon Carbides
Low

electrical resistivity. High strength and resistance to chemical attack, high temperature and thermal stress.

Tungsten Carbides
Used

for tool tips. Excellent hardness and mechanical strength. Good thermal conductivity. Good wear and abrasion resistance.

Glass

Good resistance to thermal shock. Large range of special optical characteristics. Transparent. Low thermal expansion and high dielectric strength. Good chemical resistance.

Carbon and Graphites

Carbons and Graphites

Poor

strength except when produced as fibre. Good electrical and thermal conductivity Creep resistant at high temperatures in nonoxidizing conditions. Self-lubricating. Good refractoriness and thermal shock resistance. Low density and chemically inert.

Carbon and Graphites

Carbon/Carbon Composites
High

strength and low coefficient of thermal expansion at temperatures above 2000C. Excellent thermal shock resistance. Superior toughness, excellent thermal and electrical conductivity Resistance to corrosion and abrasion. High cost.

Porcelain

Good chemical and thermal resistance. High density, strength, resistivity and dielectric strength Good thermal shock, wear and hot strength. Chemically inert.

Ceramics Fiber

Oxides spun to fiber and bulked to felt. Used for high temperature insulation including former applications of asbestos.

Raw Materials
Raw materials used in the ceramic industry include amblygonite, andalusite, aplite, bauxite, bentonite, borax, calcite, chromite, clay, ball clay, China clay, enamel clay, engobe clay, fire or refractory clay, glaze clay, stoneware, cordierite, corundum, diatomateous earth, dolomite, feldspar, flint, fluorspar forsterite, garnet, gypsum, hectorite, Illite, kaolin, kyanite lime & limestone, lithium minerals, magnesite, mica, montmorillonite mullite, nepheline syenite, olivine, perlite, petalite, pumice pyrite, pyrophyllite, quartz, rutile, sapphire, silica, sillimanite and soda ash spinels.

Process

Process

Process

Crushing the raw materials First, the raw material particles are reduced to the desired size, which involves using a variety of equipment during several crushing and grinding steps. Primary crushing is done in jaw crushers which use swinging metal jaws. Secondary crushing reduces particles to 0.1 inch (.25 centimeter) or less in diameter by using mullers (steel-tired wheels) or hammer mills, rapidly moving steel hammers. For fine grinding, craftspeople use ball mills that consist of large rotating cylinders partially filled with steel or ceramic grinding media of spherical shape.

Process

Process

Cleaning and Mixing The ingredients are passed through a series of screens to remove any under- or over-sized materials. Screens, usually operated in a sloped position, are vibrated mechanically or electromechanically to improve flow. If the body is to be formed wet, the ingredients are then combined with water to produce the desired consistency. Magnetic filtration is then used to remove iron from the slurries, as these watery mixtures of insoluble material are called. Because iron occurs so pervasively in most clays and will impart

Process
After bisque firing, the porcelain wares are put through a glazing operation, which applies the proper coating. The glaze can be applied by painting, dipping, pouring, or spraying. Finally, the ware undergoes a firing step in an oven or kiln. After cooling, the porcelain ware is complete. An undesirable reddish hue to the body if it oxidizes, removing it prior to firing is essential. If the body is to be formed dry, shell mixers, ribbon mixers, or intensive mixers are typically used.

Process

Process

Forming the Body Next, the body of the porcelain is formed. This can be done using one of four methods, depending on the type of ware being produced:soft plastic forming, where the clay is shaped by manual molding, wheel throwing, jiggering, or ram pressing. In wheel throwing, a potter places the desired amount of body on a wheel and shapes it while the wheel turns. In jiggering, the clay is put on a horizontal plaster mold of the desired shape; that mold shapes one side of the clay, while a heated die is brought down from above to shape the other side. In ram pressing, the clay is put between two plaster molds, which shape it while forcing the water out. The mold is then separated by applying vacuum to the upper half of the mold and pressure to the lower half of the mold.

Process
Pressure is then applied to the upper half to free the formed body. stiff plastic forming, which is used to shape less plastic bodies. The body is forced through a steel die to produce a column of uniform girth. This is either cut into the desired length or used as a blank for other forming operations. pressing, which is used to compact and shape dry bodies in a rigid die or flexible mold. There are several types of pressing, based on the direction of pressure. Uniaxial pressing describes the process of applying pressure from only one direction, whereas isostatic pressing entails applying pressure equally from all sides. Slip casting, in which a slurry is poured into a porous mold. The liquid is filtered out through the mold, leaving a layer of solid porcelain body. Water continues to drain out of the cast layer, until the layer becomes rigid and can be removed from the mold. If the excess fluid is not drained from the mold and the entire material

Process

Process

Bisque-firing After being formed, the porcelain parts are generally bisque-fired, which entails heating them at a relatively low temperature to vaporize volatile contaminants and minimize shrinkage during firing.

Process

Process

Glazing After the raw materials for the glaze have been ground they are mixed with water. Like the body slurry, the glaze slurry is screened and passed through magnetic filters to remove contaminants. It is then applied to the ware by means of painting, pouring, dipping, or spraying. Different types of glazes can be produced by varying the proportions of the constituent ingredients, such as alumina, silica, and calcia. For example, increasing the alumina and decreasing the silica produces a matte glaze.

Process

Process

Firing Firing is a further heating step that can be done in one of two types of oven, or kiln. A periodic kiln consists of a single, refractory-lined, sealed chamber with burner ports and flues (or electric heating elements). It can fire only one batch of ware at a time, but it is more flexible since the firing cycle can be adjusted for each product. A tunnel kiln is a refractory chamber several hundred feet or more in length. It maintains certain temperature zones continuously, with the ware being pushed from one zone to another. Typically, the ware will enter a preheating zone and move through a central firing zone before leaving the kiln via a cooling zone. This type of kiln is usually more economical and energy efficient than a periodic kiln.

Process
During the firing process, a variety of reactions take place. First, carbon-based impurities burn out, chemical water evolves (at 215 to 395 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 to 200 degrees Celsius), and carbonates and sulfates begin to decompose (at 755 to 1,295 degrees Fahrenheit or 400 to 700 degrees Celsius). Gases are produced that must escape from the ware. On further heating, some of the minerals break down into other phases, and the fluxes present (feldspar and flint) react with the decomposing minerals to form liquid glasses (at 1,295 to 2,015 degrees Fahrenheit or 700 to 1,100 degrees Celsius). These glass phases are necessary for shrinking and bonding the grains. After the desired density is achieved (greater than 2,195 degrees Fahrenheit or 1,200 degrees Celsius), the ware is cooled, which causes the liquid glass to solidify, thereby forming a strong bond between the remaining crystalline grains. After cooling, the porcelain is complete.

Process

Process

Quality Control The character of the raw materials is important in maintaining quality during the manufacturing process. The chemical composition, mineral phase, particle size distribution, and colloidal surface area affect the fired and unfired properties of the porcelain. With unfired body, the properties evaluated include viscosity, plasticity, shrinkage, and strength. With fired porcelain, strength, porosity, color, and thermal expansion are measured. Many of these properties are monitored and controlled during manufacturing using statistical methods. Both the raw materials and the process parameters (milling time and forming pressure, for example) can be adjusted to achieve desired quality.

Applications
Vehicle Disk Brake Ceramic brake disks for vehicles are resistant to abrasion at high temperature

Applications
Armoured Vehicles Advanced composite ceramic and metal matrices have been designed for most modern armoured fighting vehicles because they offer superior penetrating resistance against shaped charges (such as HEAT rounds) and kinetic energy penetrators.

Applications
Body Armour Ceramics such as alumina and boron carbide have been used in ballistic armoured vests to repel large-caliber rifle fire. Such plates are known commonly as small arms protective inserts, or SAPIs. Similar material is used to protect the cockpits of some military airplanes, because of the low weight of the material.

Applications
Bearing Ceramics can be used in place of steel for ball bearings. Their higher hardness means they are much less susceptible to wear and typically last for triple the lifetime of a steel part. They also deform less under load, meaning they have less contact with the bearing retainer walls and can roll faster. In very high speed applications, heat from friction during rolling can cause problems for metal bearings, which are reduced by the use of ceramics. Ceramics are also more chemically resistant and can be used in wet environments where steel bearings would rust. In some cases, their electricity-insulating properties may also be valuable in bearings. Two drawbacks to ceramic bearings are a significantly higher cost and susceptibility to damage under shock loads.

Applications
Turbines Work is being done in developing ceramic parts for gas turbine engines. Currently, even blades made of advanced metal alloys used in the engines' hot section require cooling and careful limiting of operating temperatures. Turbine engines made with ceramics could operate more efficiently, giving aircraft greater range and payload for a set amount of fuel.

Applications
Knife blades the blade of a ceramic knife will stay sharp for much longer than that of a steel knife, although it is more brittle and can snap from a fall onto a hard surface.

Advantages

Durability One of the main advantages of porcelain tile is its durability. It is fired at higher temperatures and made from more refined clay, so it's much more dense than standard ceramic tile. It's durable enough to last a lifetime if you install it properly.

Advantages

Moisture Ceramic is also less prone to absorbing moisture since it is so dense. This is especially useful in colder climates that can lead to freezing. This means that your tile won't crack.

Advantages

Cleaning You will also like the fact that ceramic tile is very easy to maintain. It is non-porous so it won't harbour bacteria. The property is so dense in nature also makes it more resistant to staining. This type of tile can be used in either indoor or outdoor applications.

Disadvantages

Density You've already learned about the advantages that the density of ceramic provides. However, it also leads to a disadvantage. Its increased density means that it's very hard and more difficult to cut.

Disadvantages

Weight You will not like the fact that ceramic is also very heavy. If you accidentally drop one of these, it will almost certainly break. You will also need to ensure that the subfloor is strong enough to support the weight of the ceramics.