Page 42 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

4: Advanced ceramics
Ceramics have been used since earliest times to
make buildings, pots, plates, and so on, as we have seen in the first parts of this book. However, in recent years research has shown that there is much more that can be made from ceramic materials. Advanced ceramics all require a detailed scientific knowledge
of how to make a ceramic, which is why they are called “advanced.”
We depend on advanced ceramics in all kinds
of places, from the loudspeakers in our hi-fi to the blades of a jet engine, to the heat-resisting tiles on the space shuttle.
In advanced ceramics, although many of the manufacturing processes are the same as for common ceramics, naturally occurring raw materials are rarely used. Instead, all of the raw materials have themselves been made, and they are of very special composition.
Preparing the ceramics
Many advanced ceramics are made into objects that are small and need the
highest level of precision
in manufacturing as
well as evenness of composition. A silicon chip is an example
of such an advanced ceramic.
This change of
scale requires quite different methods of making a ceramic, or at least a different level of accuracy. For example, advanced ceramics work with extremely fine-
(Above and below) The high temperatures the Space Shuttle faces were simulated to
test the thermal insulation of the materials used.
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