Unit-2 Part B Ceramcis

Syllabus
• Introduction to Advanced Ceramics-Barium
Titanate, Ferrites, Silicon Carbide, Alumina,
Ceramics, its classifications and their
applications, Introduction to Cermets and its
application
Introduction to Advanced Ceramics
Advanced ceramic materials include the area
of materials having their own characteristics
e.g., magnetic, electrical, dielectric,
pyroelectric, piezoelectric, conductivity,
semiconductivity, superconductivity and other
areas.
 CLASSIFICATION OF ADVANCED CERAMICS
Based on Chemical composition
Oxide ceramics Al2O3, SiO2, ZrO2, MgO, Fe2O3, BeO, CaO, TiO2, SnO2, ThO2,
PuO2, UO2 and oxides of rare earth elements
Non-oxide Carbides (SiC, B4C, TiC, ZrC, Mo2C, VC, WC, ThC, HfC, NbC)
ceramics Nitrides (BN, Si3N4, TiN, ZrM, TaN, UN, ThN, SiAlON),
Borides (Ti2B, ZrB2, TaB2, HfB2, ThB2)
Silicides (MoSi2, ZrSi, ZrSi2, Ti5Si3, TaSi2, TiSi2)
Titanic ceramics BaTiO 3 , SrTiO 3 , CaTiO 3
(Titanium
Sulphidic ceramics BaS, CeS, US, ThS, CdS, ZnS
Metal ceramics Al2O3, ZrO2, MgO, BeO, ThO2, Y2O3 + W, V, Mo, Ta, Ti, Zr, Si,
(Cermets) Cr, Co, Ni, Nb
 Barium Titanate,
• Barium titanate is a member of a large family of
compounds with the general formula ABO3 called
perovskites.
• The perovskite family includes many titanates used in
various electro-ceramic applications, for example,
electronic, electro-optical, and electro-mechanical
applications of ceramics.
• Barium titanate, perovskite structure, is a common
ferroelectric material with a high dielectric constant, widely
utilized to manufacture electronic components such as
mutilayer capacitors (MLCs), PTC thermistors, piezoelectric
transducers, and a variety of electro-optic devices.
• Pure barium titanate is an insulator whereas
upon doping it transforms into a
semiconductor. It is also used in sensor
applications.
• The ferroelectricity observed in barium
titanate is utilized in memory applications, i.e
RAMs. The pyroelectricity and piezoelectricity
are also used in the passive infrared detectors
and Sonars (Sound Navigation and Ranging).
BaTiO3 Properties
•Perovskite Structure

•Piezoelectricity

•Density 5.85 g/cm^3

•High Dielectric constant

BaTiO3 Info

BaO + TiO2

BaTiO3
 Uses for BaTiO3
• Underwater Sonar • Ultrasonic Therapy
• Guided Missiles • Electronic Materials
• Acoustic Mines • Ultrasonic Cleaning
• Sound Reproduction • Filters
 Ceramic Capacitors
• Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC)

Barium titanate powder,

Made into capacitors
 Manufacturing
• Barium titanate can be manufactured by liquid
phase sintering of barium carbonate and titanium
dioxide, optionally with other materials for
doping.
• Barium titanate was synthesized from
commercially available BaCO3 (99%, purity) and
TiO2. For comparison, smaller TiO2 was used and
the milling of BaCO3 was done in pulverizer for
50 h, prior of mixing with titania.
• Mechanical milling of BaCO3 results in
spherical particles ensuring better mixing and
decreases the reaction temperature which
suppresses BaTiO3 particle growth and
particle aggregation.
• Piezoelectricity—electric polarization2 (i.e., an electric field
or voltage) is induced in the ceramic crystal when a
mechanical strain (dimensional change) is imposed on it
• Piezoelectric materials may be utilized as transducers
between electrical and mechanical energies.
• One of the early uses of piezoelectric ceramics was in sonar,
wherein underwater objects (e.g., submarines) are
detected and their positions determined using an ultrasonic
emitting and receiving system.
• A piezoelectric crystal is caused to oscillate by an electrical
signal, which produces high-frequency mechanical
vibrations that are transmitted through the water.
 What do Magnets do?

• Move and direct Electrons

• Provide Magnetizing & Mechanical forces
• Electromagnets - need electrical current
– Coil & “soft magnetic materials”
– Normal copper & superconductor
• Permanent Magnets – no electrical current
– “Hard magnetic materials”
 Ferrites
• A ferrite is a ceramic material made by mixing
and firing large proportions iron(III)
oxide (Fe2O3, rust) blended with small
proportions of one or more
additional metallic elements, such
as barium, manganese, nickel, and zinc.
• Soft ferrites have low coercivity, so they easily change
their magnetization, and act as conductors of magnetic
fields. They are used in the electronics industry to
make efficient magnetic cores called ferrite cores for
high-frequency inductors and transformers, and in
various microwave components.
• Hard ferrites have high coercivity, so are difficult to
demagnetize. They are used to make
permanent magnets for refrigerator
magnets, loudspeakers, small electric motors, and so
on.
 Soft Ferrites

Iron-Silicon Alloys The addition of too much silicon makes the material
used for extremely brittle and difficult to produce, giving
transformer cores a practical limitation of 4wt%

Amorphous Nano- The alloys consist of iron,

Crystalline Alloys nickel and/or cobalt with one or more of the following
elements: boron, carbon, phosphorous and
silicon

Nickel-iron alloys These alloys, known as permalloy, are extremely versatile

and are used over a wide range of compositions, from 30 to
80wt%Ni.
 Hard Magnets

Alnicos These alloys are based

mainly on the elements nickel, cobalt and iron with smaller amounts
of aluminium, copper and
titanium (Typical weight%: Fe-35, Co-35, Ni-15, Al-7, Cu-4, Ti-4).

The main advantage of ferrites is that they are extremely low cost, due to
the ease of processing and the low cost of raw materials, which makes
them the most widely used permanent magnet material.

The magnets are made by a powder metallurgy processing route and

there are no problems with oxidation of the powder during processing, as
the material is already a stable oxide.
Metal Carbide Ceramics
Silicon carbide
This is a high-performance ceramics having the important
properties of :
 Very high hardness,
 Corrosion resistance, even at high temperatures,
 High resistance to wear,
 High strength, even at high temperatures,
 Resistance to oxidation even at very high temperatures,
 Good thermal shock resistance,
 Low thermal expansion,
 Very high thermal conductivity,
 Good tribological properties and
 Semiconductivity.

• However, SiC is relatively brittle with low fracture toughness and is

difficult to produce as a fine-grained dense ceramic.
Silicon carbide

Open porous silicon carbide:

• Silicate-bonded silicon carbide
• Nitride or oxynitride
bonded silicon carbide (NSIC)
Dense silicon carbide:
• Reaction-bonded silicon carbide (RBSIC)
• Sintered silicon carbide (SSIC)
• Hot [isostatic] pressed silicon carbide (HPSIC, [HIPSIC])
Applications of Silicon Carbide

Most common applications for SiC ceramics utilize their high hardness,
chemical resistance, and abrasion resistance.
Applications include
 Seals and valves,
 Rocket nozzles,
 Wear plates for spray drying,
 Wire dies.
 Thrust bearings, Ball bearings,
 Pump impeIlers, Extrusion dies.
 Heat exchanger tubes.
 Silicon carbide heating elements are widely used for years
 Metal Oxides Ceramics
Alumina
• Alumina was originally developed for refractory tubing and high-
purity crucibles for high-temperature use and now has wide
application
• Exhibits rhombohedric crystal structure
• Alumina has high hardness, wear resistance, high modulus, inertness,
refractoriness and adequate strength
• Alumina serves well at temperature as high as 19000C
• Above 20000C, its strength drops
• Alumina have good creep resistance up to 8200C
• Mineral name: corundum, sometimes termed sapphire after the blue
gemstone variety of corundum
 Alumina

Aluminum oxide is
commonly doped
with magnesium oxide,
cold-pressed, and sintered,
producing the type of
microstructure shown
in Fig.

Microstructure of sintered powdered aluminum oxide doped with

magnesium oxide. The microstructure is nearly pore-free, with only a few
pores within the grains.
 Alumina

Alumina has low fracture toughness but it can

be considerably improved by making
composite in which fine particles of zirconia
are uniformly dispersed.

Equiaxial ZrO2
particles (bright)
dispersed in
alumina (ZTA).
Alumina
Applications of Alumina
 A classic example of the
application of alumina is
in spark plug insulator material
 Alumina is commonly used for high-quality electrical
applications where low dielectric loss and high
resistivity are needed
 Alumina is used as bio-inert material in various
orthopedic devices such as knee joint etc.
 Abrasives
 Fuel cell parts
 Metal Oxides Ceramics
Zirconia
Since the mid-1980s, zirconia is used as high-
performance ceramics
Has extreme inertness to most metals
Retain its strength up to 22000C
Pure zirconia is polymorphic.
 Cermets
• The objective to combine the properties of ceramics,
such as hardness resistance to oxidation heat
resistance with the properties of metals, such as
toughness impact strength in order to create an ideal
cutting material, produces “cermets“.
• The first tungsten-carbide-free hard metal – the first
cermet – was patented by PLANSEE in the year 1931
(inventors: P. Schwarzkopf and J. Hirschl).
• This alloy (TiC, Mo2C, Ni [Co,Cr]) was considerably
more brittle than the cermets of today, demonstrating
erratic performance due to unsuitable conditions and
processes of the time.
Electrical components: can get extremely hot, they
need to behave like ceramics but, since they also need
to conduct electricity, it helps if they work like metals.
Ex. resistors and vacuum tubes (valves).
Machine tools: Titanium carbide (TiC), is a popular
choice of cermet for tools used in milling, turning and
boring, and for making threads and grooves.
Typically cermet tools are made from either titanium
carbide alone, titanium carbide and titanium nitride
(TiN), or titanium carbonitride (TiCN). They provide
higher cutting-tool speeds, better surface finish, than
traditional tool parts. Unlike tools coated in carbide,
cermet-coated tools do not wear in the same way but
effectively regenerate themselves.