Traditional ceramic materials

Traditional ceramics: Ceramic materials that are derived from common, naturally occurring
raw materials such as clay, minerals, and quartz sand, are called Traditional ceramics.

Through industrial processes that have been practiced in some form for centuries, these materials
are made into such familiar products as china tableware, clay brick and tile, industrial abrasives
and refractory linings, and portland cements.

Ceramics are typically hard and chemically stable materials with valuable applications.
Traditional and advanced are the main types of ceramics. Ball clay, China clay, Feldspar, Silica,
Dolomite, Talc, Calcite and Nepheline are the common materials used for most of the ceramic
products. Each raw material contributes a certain property such as dry strength, plasticity,
shrinkage, etc. to the ceramic body. Therefore, by careful selection of materials, desired
properties are acquired for the final output. Powder preparation is a major consideration in the
ceramic industry. Surface area, particle size and distribution, particle shape, density, etc. each
have their own effect on production. Powder has to be prepared to meet required particle size,
particle shape, and other requirements for a particular industry. Milling is done to get the desired
particle size. Unlike in the advanced ceramics industry the purity of ceramic powder is not an
issue in traditional ceramics.

Not long after the first crude clay vessels were made, people learned how to make them stronger,
harder, and less permeable to fluids by burning. These advances were followed by structural clay
products, including brick and tile. Clay-based bricks, strengthened and toughened with fibers
such as straw, were among the earliest composite materials. Artistic uses of pottery also achieved
a high degree of sophistication, especially in China, the Middle East, and the America. Today
there are many divisions of this industry. Pottery, tableware, sanitaryware, tiles, structural clay
products, refractories, blocks, and electrical porcelain are some of the products of traditional
ceramics. Because of the large volumes of product involved, traditional ceramics tend to be
manufactured from naturally occurring raw materials.

Manufacture of Traditional Ceramics :

Traditional ceramics are made from natural materials such as clay and silica that have been
hardened by heating at high temperatures which drives out water and allowing strong chemical
bonds to form between the flakes of clay. In fact, the word "ceramic" comes from the Greek
keramos, whose original meaning was "burnt earth." When artists make ceramic works of art,
they first mold clay, often mixed with other raw materials, into the desired shape. Special ovens
called kilns are used to "fire" i.e. heat at high temperatures the shaped object until it hardens.
Silicon: In fact, so common is the use of silicate minerals that traditional ceramics are often
referred to as silicate ceramics, and their manufacture is often called the silicate industry. Many
of the silicate materials are actually unmodified or chemically modified aluminosilicates
(alumina [Al2O3] plus silica), although silica is also used in its pure form.

Clay: Clay minerals such as kaolinite (Al2[Si2O5][OH]4) are secondary geologic deposits,
having been formed by the weathering of igneous rocks under the influence of water, dissolved
carbon dioxide, and organic acids. The largest deposits are believed to have formed when
feldspar (KAlSi3O8) was eroded from rocks such as granite and was deposited in lake beds,
where it was subsequently transformed into clay. The importance of clay minerals to traditional
ceramic development and processing cannot be overemphasized. In addition to being the primary
source of aluminosilicates, these minerals have layered crystal structures that result in plate-
shaped particles of extremely small micrometre size. When these particles are suspended in or
mixed with water, the mixture exhibits unusual rheology, or flow under pressure. This behaviour
allows for such diverse processing methods as slip casting and plastic forming, which are
described below. Clay minerals are therefore considered to be formers, allowing the mixed
ingredients to be formed into the desired shape.

TABLE 1. TRADITIONAL CERAMICS

Category Examples

Whitewares dishes, plumbing materials, enamels, tiles

brick, pottery, materials for the treatment and transport of sewage,

Heavy clay products
water purification components

Refractories brick, cements, crucibles, molds

Construction brick, plaster, blocks, concrete, tile, glass, fiberglass