“Frontiers in ceramics” grand challenges

Abstract

Ceramics are classified as inorganic and non-metallic materials that are essential to our daily lifestyle and have a long history of development. Archeologists have uncovered human-made ceramics that date back to at least 24,000 BC. Clay minerals of alumina-silicates remain the most widely used raw materials for producing traditional ceramic products (Carter, 2013). The ceramic products from clay includes earthenware, porcelain and bricks which have also been in use in our daily life for a long time. Development of advanced ceramics has led to production of ceramic matrix composites, ceramic coatings, electro-ceramics, bioceramics and optical glass fibres, etc. Nowadays ceramics are found in products like watches, snow skies, automobiles and phone lines. Depending on their method of formation, ceramics can be dense or/and lightweight. Typically, ceramics demonstrate excellent strength and hardness properties, being stable and chemically inert in corrosive environments (Carter, 2013). Various mechanical, chemical, electrical, magnetic, optical and thermal properties can be obtained using various ceramics, which would be difficult with other materials. However, ceramics are often brittle in nature. It is more difficult to manufacture ceramic components than is the case with metals and polymers. In addition, a wide range of ceramics have been investigated for industrial applications, and different processing techniques have developed to manufacture ceramics (Carter, 2013). Therefore, multi-disciplinary investigation is required for study of ceramic materials and it is difficult for a single scientific journal to cover all ceramic research topics. Thus, a new journal “Frontiers inCeramics”has been launchedwith intent to cover four sections initially:Ceramic Processing,Ceramic Structure-property Relationship, Ceramic Applicationswith focus on functional ceramics, and Ceramic Technology to cover coating technology, nanotechnology, and traditional ceramics in additional to advanced ceramics. Both chemical and physical methods have been used to produce ceramic powders. Ceramic powders can be transformed into green ceramics of different shapes via ceramic forming techniques, followed by sintering of green ceramics into consolidated ceramics (Reed, 1995). On the other hand, different ceramic processing techniques have been and are being developed to produce ceramics which are difficult or expensive to produce via the powder forming and sintering route. Ceramic processing routes are much wider than those used tomanufacture metallic and polymer products, although some ceramic forming techniques are similar to those employed for manufacture of metal and polymer components, e.g., casting and extrusion. Overall, it is difficult to summarise all ceramic processing techniques, as they are wide range, evolving and progressing continuously. Ceramic structure controls properties including mechanical, electrical, thermal and optical properties (Lee and Rainforth, 1994). Progress in ceramic processing, coupled with advances in ceramic characterisation techniques, has promoted fundamental understanding of ceramic microstructure-property relationships and led to invention of many new ceramic products with OPEN ACCESS