1. Ceramics and glass

1.1 General

The generic terms "ceramics" and "glass" not only refer to specific compositions, or to a "crystalline" or "amorphous" character, but, whatever the material in question, they essentially refer to the technologies used to make objects.

• Ceramics

  Ceramics are objects produced by a technology involving the shaping of a powdery crystalline material at room temperature. Then, a high-temperature cycle, called firing or sintering, transforms the "raw" ceramic into a dense or porous "fired" ceramic, mainly composed of one or more materials in crystallized form. It is during this thermal cycle that the ceramic densifies, creating a microstructure of grains and grain boundaries.

  The properties,...