Fabrication and

Processing of Ceramics
 Ceramics Fabrication Techniques
• These are classified into 3 Categories
1. Glass-forming Process
2. Particulate-forming Process
3. Cementation
 Glass-forming Process
• the raw materials are heated until they melt.
• There are five glass-forming processes:
1. blowing,
2. pressing,
3. drawing,
4. fiber-forming, and
5. sheet-forming
 1. Blowing
• The blowing process is used to make hollow thin-walled glass items, such
as bottles and flasks.
 2. Pressing
• This is widely used process for mass producing glass pieces such as
dishes, bake ware, headlight lenses, TV tube faceplates, and similar items
that are relatively flat.
 3.Drawing
• In the drawing method, a ribbon of glass is
• drawn vertically from the glass furnace up
• an annealing tower by powered asbestos
• rollers which grip the ribbon as soon as it has
• cooled enough, a few feet above the furnace.
• This process is used primarily for window glass.
 4. Fiber Forming
• is produced by drawing molten glass through multiple orifices.
 5. Sheet Forming
• -Continuous casting
• -sheets are formed by floating the molten glass on a pool of molten tin
 Particulate-forming Process
• There are four particulate-forming processes:
1. Powder pressing
2. Hydroplastic forming
3. Slip casting
4. Tape casting
 1. Powder Pressing
• used for both clay and non-clay compositions.
• There are 3 techniques possible
1. Uniaxial compression - compacted in single direction
2. Isostatic (hydrostatic) compression - pressure applied by fluid - powder in rubber
envelope
3. Hot pressing - pressure + heat
 2. Hydroplastic forming
• The molding or shaping of clay-based
ceramics that have been made plastic
and pliable by adding water.
• Also known as soft, wet, and plastic
forming
 3. Slip casting
• a slurry of clay and water is poured
into a porous mold, usually made of
plaster. As the mold is rotated, the
slurry coats the mold wall, and
water is absorbed into the plaster,
thereby drying the slurry closest to
the wall.
 4. Tape casting
• also called
doctor blading
and knife
coating
 Cementation
• Hardening of a paste – paste formed by mixing cement material with
water
• Formation of rigid structures having varied and complexshapes
• Hardening process – hydration (complex chemical reactions involving
water and cement particles)