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What Are the Different Types of Raw Materials for Ceramics?

By Ray Hawk
Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 11,366
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Raw materials for ceramics span a fairly broad range due to the fact that ceramics themselves are a diverse group of materials. Generally, ceramics share the physical properties of being crystalline in structure and acting as heat and electrical insulating materials, and these properties are derived from several major elements in nature. Earthenware, pottery, and bricks contain the raw materials for ceramics in the form of crystalline metals like aluminum mixed with silicate compounds like quartz, feldspar, and mica, which are composed largely of silicon dioxide. These types of raw materials are generally referred to as clay, constituting over 90% of the mineral compounds on the surface of the Earth that form into rocks.

Making insulators for high temperatures and advanced electronics applications, however, can include raw materials for ceramics such as carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Advanced research into superconductors is also based upon the raw materials for ceramics compounds because ceramics tend to switch from natural insulating properties to superconducting properties at very low temperatures. Common superconducting ceramics are based on copper-oxide compounds, but many rare-Earth metals like niobium and yttrium are also used. These metals along with silicates are often alloyed together in manufacturing ceramics such as with yttrium, aluminum, and garnet as a silicate compound. One recent discovery as of 2002 of a unique superconducting ceramic was a compound of plutonium, cobalt, and gallium, or PuCoGa5.

Manufacturing ceramics usually involves a four-step process where a powder that comprises the metals, silicates, or other compounds like carbon and sulfur is compressed into a solid under intense pressure and then machined into a desired shape. Making ceramics then involves firing the product at a temperature between 2,850° to 3,100° Fahrenheit (1,570° to 1,704° Celsius) for anywhere from 12 to 120 hours. During this process, the ceramic part's volume compresses by approximately 20%, which facilitates a final step afterward of machining the part with a diamond-tipped tool or other precise equipment to make it fit to desired tolerances and specifications.

The ceramics business spans a broad area of commercial interest from widespread use as pottery and decorative porcelain cooking vessels and artwork to the production of ceramic knife blades, building materials like pipe and flooring, and high-temperature coatings for turbojet engine blades. Even dental replacements like tooth bridges are made from ceramics. Since each of these products have very unique tolerances, appearance, and structural requirements, the raw materials for ceramics can come from a long and complex list of ingredients.

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Discussion Comments
By Spotiche5 — On Feb 07, 2015

@rundocuri- There are actually organized digs around the country where you can go to dig for your own clay. These locations are often near bodies of water where clay is commonly found in the ground.

If finding a dig sounds appealing to you, it is a good idea to check with an archaeological organization in your area to find out where such digs are taking place. If you don't have such an organization in your area, a science instructor at a local high school or college might be able to direct you to the right location or organization to begin your search for clay.

By Heavanet — On Feb 06, 2015

@rundocuri- It is possible to find and extract your own clay from the earth, but it can only be found in certain areas. You can do an online search to find out if you live in or are close to an area where clay appears naturally in the ground. If you are lucky, you might even have it in your own back yard.

By Rundocuri — On Feb 05, 2015

I enjoy spinning pottery, and I would like to try to find my own raw materials by digging my own clay. I know that this is possible, but I'm not sure how to get started. Does anyone have some tips for finding it?

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