1. General issues relating to ceramic deposits

A ceramic is an inorganic, non-metallic material, generally in crystalline form: oxide, nitride, carbide, boride. To these materials we can add hard carbon, which some consider to be a ceramic. However, it should be emphasized that the properties of technical ceramics are highly dependent on the production method, and in particular on temperature and its temporal evolution. The same applies to ceramic deposits, whose properties depend on the chosen manufacturing process, and on temperature control during deposition.

Ceramic materials manufactured either by conventional means (e.g. sintering) or by deposition have a brittle behavior (at room temperature, their behavior can be considered elastic until fracture). They have a very high modulus of elasticity and very limited elastic deformations. They are highly resistant to compression, but weak in tension or shear....