Ceramic Grain Structure

Grain boundaries are characteristic microstructure features of the polycrystalline ceramics that modify and or introduce additional properties in ceramics compared to their constituent crystalline phase s.

Ceramic grain structure.

The grains are formed as the compacted grains of ceramic powder try to reduce their surface area by coalescing together during sintering. The term grain types in the area of abrasives signifies the different types of minerals used during the manufacture of abrasive tools. Glass ceramics are made of small grains surrounded by a glassy phase and have properties in between those of glass and ceramics. A ceramic material is an inorganic non metallic often crystalline oxide nitride or carbide material.

When these two materials are combined glass ceramics the glassy phase usually surrounds small crystals bonding them together. Used primarily on metal applications. In general the smaller the grain size the stronger and denser is the ceramic material. 6 3 2 2 properties determined by grain boundaries.

In the case of a glass material the microstructure is non crystalline. Ceramic is usually red or orange in color. Since the essential portion of the grinding process namely the machining of the material to be processed is performed by these minerals the grain type used has a major impact on the suitability range and performance of a abrasive. In 1984 saint gobain abrasive materials pioneered a unique technology for groundbreaking seeded gel abrasives by dispersing tiny particles in a special gel removing the water and subjecting them to high temperatures.

They are the newest grain innovation and represent the ultimate in performance providing an aggressive consistent cut under moderate to high pressure. They withstand chemical erosion that occurs in other materials subjected to acidic or caustic environments. Some elements such as carbon or silicon may be considered ceramics ceramic materials are brittle hard strong in compression and weak in shearing and tension. Ceramic may be used as a noun in the singular to refer to a ceramic material or the product of ceramic manufacture or as an adjective.

Amorphous structure means that atoms are not organized according to a well ordered repeating arrangement as in crystals. Ceramic engineering like many sciences evolved from a different discipline by today s standards. Microstructure of a typical dense ceramic. The grain boundaries are formed at the intersection of the grains and often contain impurities that form glassy phases.

Inside the grain boundaries atoms are less well ordered in conjunction with the. Polycrystalline ceramic ferroelectric batio3 having average grain sizes of 14 4 2 14 and 0 26 μm and batio3 powder polymer matrix composites possessing average particle sizes of 1 33 μm 0.