1. Introductiuon to CAD<br />Computer-aided design (CAD), also known as computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) , HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_designquot;
quot;
cite_note-0quot;
[1] is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer. CADD software, or environments, provides the user with input-tools for the purpose of streamlining design processes; drafting, documentation, and manufacturing processes. CADD output is often in the form of electronic files for print or machining operations. The development of CADD-based software is in direct correlation with the processes it seeks to economize; industry-based software (construction, manufacturing, etc.) typically uses vector-based (linear) environments whereas graphic-based software utilizes raster-based (pixelated) environments.<br />CADD environments often involve more than just shapes. As in the manual drafting of technical and engineering drawings, the output of CAD must convey information, such as materials, processes, dimensions, and tolerances, according to application-specific conventions.<br />CAD may be used to design curves and figures in two-dimensional (2D) space; or curves, surfaces, and solids in three-dimensional (3D) objects.[2]<br />CAD is an important industrial art extensively used in many applications, including automotive, shipbuilding, and aerospace industries, industrial and architectural design, prosthetics, and many more. CAD is also widely used to produce computer animation for special effects in movies, advertising and technical manuals. The modern ubiquity and power of computers means that even perfume bottles and shampoo dispensers are designed using techniques unheard of by engineers of the 1960s. Because of its enormous economic importance, CAD has been a major driving force for research in computational geometry, computer graphics (both hardware and software), and discrete differential geometry.[3]<br />The design of geometric models for object shapes, in particular, is occasionally called computer-aided geometric design (CAGD).[4]<br />Contents[hide]1 Overview2 Uses3 Types4 Technology5 History6 See also7 References<br />[edit] Overview<br />Beginning in the 1980s Computer-Aided Design programs reduced the need of draftsmen significantly, especially in small to mid-sized companies. Their affordability and ability to run on personal computers also allowed engineers to do their own drafting work, eliminating the need for entire departments. In today's world most, if not all, students in universities do not learn drafting techniques because they are not required to do so. The days of hand drawing for final drawings are all but over. Universities no longer require the use of protractors and compasses to create drawings, instead there are several classes that focus on the use of CAD software such as Pro Engineer or IEAS-MS.<br />Current computer-aided design software packages range from 2D vector-based drafting systems to 3D solid and surface modellers. Modern CAD packages can also frequently allow rotations in three dimensions, allowing viewing of a designed object from any desired angle, even from the inside looking out. Some CAD software is capable of dynamic mathematic modeling, in which case it may be marketed as CADD — computer-aided design and drafting.<br />CAD is used in the design of tools and machinery and in the drafting and design of all types of buildings, from small residential types (houses) to the largest commercial and industrial structures (hospitals and factories).<br />[5] CAD is mainly used for detailed engineering of 3D models and/or 2D drawings of physical components, but it is also used throughout the engineering process from conceptual design and layout of products, through strength and dynamic analysis of assemblies to definition of manufacturing methods of components. It can also be used to design objects.<br />CAD has become an especially important technology within the scope of computer-aided technologies, with benefits such as lower product development costs and a greatly shortened design cycle. CAD enables designers to lay out and develop work on screen, print it out and save it for future editing, saving time on their drawings.<br />[edit] Uses<br />Computer-aided design is one of the many tools used by engineers and designers and is used in many ways depending on the profession of the user and the type of software in question.<br />CAD is one part of the whole Digital Product Development (DPD) activity within the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) process, and as such is used together with other tools, which are either integrated modules or stand-alone products, such as:<br />Computer-aided engineering (CAE) and Finite element analysis (FEA)<br />Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) including instructions to Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines<br />Photo realistic rendering<br />Document management and revision control using Product Data Management (PDM).<br />CAD is also used for the accurate creation of photo simulations that are often required in the preparation of Environmental Impact Reports, in which computer-aided designs of intended buildings are superimposed into photographs of existing environments to represent what that locale will be like were the proposed facilities allowed to be built. Potential blockage of view corridors and shadow studies are also frequently analyzed through the use of CAD..<br />CAD has also been proven to be useful to engineers as well. Using four properties which are history, features, parameterization, and high level constraints (Zhang). The construction history can be used to look back into the model's personal features and work on the single area rather than the whole model (zhang). Parameters and constraints can be used to determine the size, shape, and the different modeling elements. The features in the CAD system can be used for the variety of tools for measurement such as tensile strength, yield strength, also its stress and strain and how the element gets affected in certain temperatures.<br />[edit] Types<br />There are several different types of CAD [6] . Each of these different types of CAD systems require the operator to think differently about how he or she will use them and he or she must design their virtual components in a different manner for each.<br />There are many producers of the lower-end 2D systems, including a number of free and open source programs. These provide an approach to the drawing process without all the fuss over scale and placement on the drawing sheet that accompanied hand drafting, since these can be adjusted as required during the creation of the final draft.<br />3D wireframe is basically an extension of 2D drafting (not often used today). Each line has to be manually inserted into the drawing. The final product has no mass properties associated with it and cannot have features directly added to it, such as holes. The operator approaches these in a similar fashion to the 2D systems, although many 3D systems allow using the wireframe model to make the final engineering drawing views.<br />3D quot;
dumbquot;
solids are created in a way analogous to manipulations of real world objects (not often used today). Basic three-dimensional geometric forms (prisms, cylinders, spheres, and so on) have solid volumes added or subtracted from them, as if assembling or cutting real-world objects. Two-dimensional projected views can easily be generated from the models. Basic 3D solids don't usually include tools to easily allow motion of components, set limits to their motion, or identify interference between components.<br />3D parametric solid modeling require the operator to use what is referred to as quot;
design intentquot;
. The objects and features created are adjustable. Any future modifications will be simple, difficult, or nearly impossible, depending on how the original part was created. One must think of this as being a quot;
perfect worldquot;
representation of the component. If a feature was intended to be located from the center of the part, the operator needs to locate it from the center of the model, not, perhaps, from a more convenient edge or an arbitrary point, as he could when using quot;
dumbquot;
solids. Parametric solids require the operator to consider the consequences of his actions carefully.<br />Some software packages provide the ability to edit parametric and non-parametric geometry without the need to understand or undo the design intent history of the geometry by use of direct modeling functionality. This ability may also include the additional ability to infer the correct relationships between selected geometry (e.g., tangency, concentricity) which makes the editing process less time and labor intensive while still freeing the engineer from the burden of understanding the model’s. These kind of non history based systems are called Explicit Modellers or Direct CAD Modelers.<br />Top end systems offer the capabilities to incorporate more organic, aesthetics and ergonomic features into designs. Freeform surface modelling is often combined with solids to allow the designer to create products that fit the human form and visual requirements as well as they interface with the machine.<br />[edit] Technology<br />A CAD model of a computer mouse.<br />Originally software for Computer-Aided Design systems was developed with computer languages such as Fortran, but with the advancement of object-oriented programming methods this has radically changed. Typical modern parametric feature based modeler and freeform surface systems are built around a number of key C modules with their own APIs. A CAD system can be seen as built up from the interaction of a graphical user interface (GUI) with NURBS geometry and/or boundary representation (B-rep) data via a geometric modeling kernel. A geometry constraint engine may also be employed to manage the associative relationships between geometry, such as wireframe geometry in a sketch or components in an assembly.<br />Unexpected capabilities of these associative relationships have led to a new form of prototyping called digital prototyping. In contrast to physical prototypes, which entail manufacturing time in the design. That said, CAD models can be generated by a computer after the physical prototype has been scanned using an industrial CT scanning machine. Depending on the nature of the business, digital or physical prototypes can be initially chosen according to specific needs.<br />Today, CAD systems exist for all the major platforms (Windows, Linux, UNIX and Mac OS X); some packages even support multiple platforms.<br />Right now, no special hardware is required for most CAD software. However, some CAD systems can do graphically and computationally intensive tasks, so a modern graphics card, high speed (and possibly multiple) CPUs and large amounts of RAM may be recommended.<br />The human-machine interface is generally via a computer mouse but can also be via a pen and digitizing graphics tablet. Manipulation of the view of the model on the screen is also sometimes done with the use of a Spacemouse/SpaceBall. Some systems also support stereoscopic glasses for viewing the 3D model.<br />[edit] History<br />[7] [8] [9] [10] Designers have long used computers for their calculations. Initial developments were carried out in the 1960s within the aircraft and automotive industries in the area of 3D surface construction and NC programming, most of it independent of one another and often not publicly published until much later. Some of the mathematical description work on curves was developed in the early 1940s by Robert Issac Newton from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Robert A. Heinlein in his 1957 novel The Door into Summer suggested the possibility of a robotic Drafting Dan. However, probably the most important work on polynomial curves and sculptured surface was done by Pierre Bézier (Renault), Paul de Casteljau (Citroen), Steven Anson Coons (MIT, Ford), James Ferguson (Boeing), Carl de Boor (GM), Birkhoff (GM) and Garibedian (GM) in the 1960s and W. Gordon (GM) and R. Riesenfeld in the 1970s.<br />It is argued that a turning point was the development of the SKETCHPAD system at MIT in 1963 by Ivan Sutherland (who later created a graphics technology company with Dr. David Evans). The distinctive feature of SKETCHPAD was that it allowed the designer to interact with his computer graphically: the design can be fed into the computer by drawing on a CRT monitor with a light pen. Effectively, it was a prototype of graphical user interface, an indispensable feature of modern CAD.<br />The first commercial applications of CAD were in large companies in the automotive and aerospace industries, as well as in electronics. Only large corporations could afford the computers capable of performing the calculations. Notable company projects were at GM (Dr. Patrick J.Hanratty) with DAC-1 (Design Augmented by Computer) 1964; Lockheed projects; Bell GRAPHIC 1 and at Renault (Bézier) – UNISURF 1971 car body design and tooling.<br />One of the most influential events in the development of CAD was the founding of MCS (Manufacturing and Consulting Services Inc.) in 1971 by Dr. P. J. Hanratty,[11] who wrote the system ADAM (Automated Drafting And Machining) but more importantly supplied code to companies such as McDonnell Douglas ( HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unigraphicsquot;
quot;
Unigraphicsquot;
Unigraphics), Computervision (CADDS), Calma, Gerber, Autotrol and Control Data.<br />As computers became more affordable, the application areas have gradually expanded. The development of CAD software for personal desktop computers was the impetus for almost universal application in all areas of construction.<br />Other key points in the 1960s and 1970s would be the foundation of CAD systems United Computing, Intergraph, IBM, Intergraph IGDS in 1974 (which led to Bentley Systems MicroStation in 1984)<br />CAD implementations have evolved dramatically since then. Initially, with 3D in the 1970s, it was typically limited to producing drawings similar to hand-drafted drawings. Advances in programming and computer hardware, notably solid modeling in the 1980s, have allowed more versatile applications of computers in design activities.<br />Key products for 1981 were the solid modelling packages -Romulus (ShapeData) and Uni-Solid (Unigraphics) based on PADL-2 and the release of the surface modeler CATIA ( HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Systemesquot;
quot;
Dassault Systemesquot;
Dassault Systemes). Autodesk was founded 1982 by John Walker, which led to the 2D system AutoCAD. The next milestone was the release of Pro/ENGINEER in 1988, which heralded greater usage of feature-based modeling methods and parametric linking of the parameters of features. Also of importance to the development of CAD was the development of the B-rep solid modeling kernels (engines for manipulating geometrically and topologically consistent 3D objects) Parasolid (ShapeData) and ACIS (Spatial Technology Inc.) at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, both inspired by the work of Ian Braid. This led to the release of mid-range packages such as SolidWorks in 1995, Solid Edge (then Intergraph) in 1996 and Autodesk Inventor in 1999.<br /> Mechanical material properties<br />The mechanical properties of a material describe how it will react to physical forces. Mechanical properties occur as a result of the physical properties inherent to each material, and are determined through a series of standardized mechanical tests. <br /> <br />Strength <br />Strength has several definitions depending on the material type and application. Before choosing a material based on its published or measured strength it is important to understand the manner in which strength is defined and how it is measured. When designing for strength, material class and mode of loading are important considerations. <br />For metals the most common measure of strength is the yield strength. For most polymers it is more convenient to measure the failure strength, the stress at the point where the stress strain curve becomes obviously non-linear. Strength, for ceramics however, is more difficult to define. Failure in ceramics is highly dependent on the mode of loading. The typical failure strength in compression is fifteen times the failure strength in tension. The more common reported value is the compressive failure strength. <br /> <br />Elastic limit <br />The elastic limit is the highest stress at which all deformation strains are fully recoverable. For most materials and applications this can be considered the practical limit to the maximum stress a component can withstand and still function as designed. Beyond the elastic limit permanent strains are likely to deform the material to the point where its function is impaired. <br /> <br />Proportional limit <br />The proportional limit is the highest stress at which stress is linearly proportional to strain. This is the same as the elastic limit for most materials. Some materials may show a slight deviation from proportionality while still under recoverable strain. In these cases the proportional limit is preferred as a maximum stress level because deformation becomes less predictable above it. <br /> <br />Yield Strength <br />The yield strength is the minimum stress which produces permanent plastic deformation. This is perhaps the most common material property reported for structural materials because of the ease and relative accuracy of its measurement. The yield strength is usually defined at a specific amount of plastic strain, or offset, which may vary by material and or specification. The offset is the amount that the stress-strain curve deviates from the linear elastic line. The most common offset for structural metals is 0.2%. <br /> <br />Ultimate Tensile Strength <br />The ultimate tensile strength is an engineering value calculated by dividing the maximum load on a material experienced during a tensile test by the initial cross section of the test sample. When viewed in light of the other tensile test data the ultimate tensile strength helps to provide a good indication of a material's toughness but is not by itself a useful design limit. Conversely this can be construed as the minimum stress that is necessary to ensure the failure of a material. <br /> <br />True Fracture Strength <br />The true fracture strength is the load at fracture divided by the cross sectional area of the sample. Like the ultimate tensile strength the true fracture strength can help an engineer to predict the behavior of the material but is not itself a practical strength limit. Because the tensile test seeks to standardize variables such as specimen geometry, strain rate and uniformity of stress it can be considered a kind of best case scenario of failure. <br /> <br />Ductility <br />Ductility is a measure of how much deformation or strain a material can withstand before breaking. The most common measure of ductility is the percentage of change in length of a tensile sample after breaking. This is generally reported as % El or percent elongation. The R.A. or reduction of area of the sample also gives some indication of ductility. <br /> <br />Toughness <br />Toughness describes a material's resistance to fracture. It is often expressed in terms of the amount of energy a material can absorb before fracture. Tough materials can absorb a considerable amount of energy before fracture while brittle materials absorb very little. Neither strong materials such as glass or very ductile materials such as taffy can absorb large amounts of energy before failure. Toughness is not a single property but rather a combination of strength and ductility. <br />The toughness of a material can be related to the total area under its stress-strain curve. A comparison of the relative magnitudes of the yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and percent elongation of different material will give a good indication of their relative toughness. Materials with high yield strength and high ductility have high toughness. Integrated stress-strain data is not readily available for most materials so other test methods have been devised to help quantify toughness. The most common test for toughness is the Charpy impact test. <br />In crystalline materials the toughness is strongly dependent on crystal structure. Face centered cubic materials are typically ductile while hexagonal close packed materials tend to be brittle. Body centered cubic materials often display dramatic variation in the mode of failure with temperature. In many materials the toughness is temperature dependent. Generally materials are more brittle at lower temperatures and more ductile at higher temperatures. The temperature at which the transition takes place is known as the DBTT, or ductile to brittle transition temperature. The DBTT is measured by performing a series of Charpy impact tests at various temperatures to determine the ranges of brittle and ductile behavior. Use of alloys below their transition temperature is avoided due to the risk of catastrophic failure. <br /> <br />Fatigue ratio <br />The dimensionless fatigue ratio f is the ratio of the stress required to cause failure after a specific number of cycles to the yield stress of a material. Fatigue tests are generally run through 107 or 108 cycles. A high fatigue ratio indicates materials which are more susceptible to crack growth during cyclic loading. <br /> <br />Loss coefficient <br />The loss coefficient is an other important material parameter in cyclic loading. It is the fraction of mechanical energy lost in a stress strain cycle. The loss coefficient for each material is a function of the frequency of the cycle. A high loss coefficient can be desirable for damping vibrations while a low loss coefficient transmits energy more efficiently. The loss coefficient is also an important factor in resisting fatigue failure. If the loss coefficient is too high, cyclic loading will dissipate energy into the material leading to fatigue failure. <br />ceramic material<br />Ceramic materials are inorganic, non-metallic materials and things made from them. They may be crystalline or partly crystalline. They are formed by the action of heat and subsequent cooling.[1] Clay was one of the earliest materials used to produce ceramics, but many different ceramic materials are now used in domestic, industrial and building products.<br />Contents[hide]1 Types of ceramic materials 1.1 Crystalline ceramics1.2 Non-crystalline ceramics2 Properties of ceramics 2.1 Mechanical properties2.2 Electrical properties 2.2.1 Semiconductors2.2.2 Superconductivity2.2.3 Ferroelectricity and supersets2.2.4 Positive thermal coefficient2.3 Optical properties3 Examples of ceramics materials4 See also5 References6 Further reading7 External links<br />[edit] Types of ceramic materials<br />A ceramic material may be defined as any inorganic crystalline oxide material. It is solid and inert. Ceramic materials are brittle, hard, strong in compression, weak in shearing and tension. They withstand chemical erosion that occurs in an acidic or caustic environment. In many cases withstanding erosion from the acid and bases applied to it. Ceramics generally can withstand very high temperatures such as temperatures that range from 1,000 °C to 1,600 °C (1,800 °F to 3,000 °F). Exceptions include inorganic materials that do not have oxygen such as silicon carbide. Glass by definition is not a ceramic because it is an amorphous solid (non-crystalline). However, glass involves several steps of the ceramic process and its mechanical properties behave similarly to ceramic materials.<br />Traditional ceramic raw materials include clay minerals such as kaolinite, more recent materials include aluminium oxide, more commonly known as alumina. The modern ceramic materials, which are classified as advanced ceramics, include silicon carbide and tungsten carbide. Both are valued for their abrasion resistance, and hence find use in applications such as the wear plates of crushing equipment in mining operations. Advanced ceramics are also used in the medicine, electrical and electronics industries.<br />[edit] Crystalline ceramics<br />Crystalline ceramic materials are not amenable to a great range of processing. Methods for dealing with them tend to fall into one of two categories - either make the ceramic in the desired shape, by reaction in situ, or by quot;
formingquot;
powders into the desired shape, and then sintering to form a solid body. Ceramic forming techniques include shaping by hand (sometimes including a rotation process called quot;
throwingquot;
), slip casting, tape casting (used for making very thin ceramic capacitors, etc.), injection moulding, dry pressing, and other variations. (See also Ceramic forming techniques. Details of these processes are described in the two books listed below.) A few methods use a hybrid between the two approaches.<br />[edit] Non-crystalline ceramics<br />Non-crystalline ceramics, being glasses, tend to be formed from melts. The glass is shaped when either fully molten, by casting, or when in a state of toffee-like viscosity, by methods such as blowing to a mold. If later heat-treatments cause this class to become partly crystalline, the resulting material is known as a glass-ceramic.<br />[edit] Properties of ceramics<br />The physical properties of any ceramic substance are a direct result of its crystalline structure and chemical composition. Solid state chemistry reveals the fundamental connection between microstructure and properties such as localized density variations, grain size distribution, type of porosity and second-phase content, which can all be correlated with ceramic properties such as mechanical strength σ by the Hall-Petch equation, hardness, toughness, dielectric constant, and the optical properties exhibited by transparent materials.<br />Physical properties of chemical compounds which provide evidence of chemical composition include odor, color, volume, density (mass / volume), melting point, boiling point, heat capacity, physical form at room temperature (solid, liquid or gas), hardness, porosity, and index of refraction.<br />Ceramography is the art and science of preparation, examination and evaluation of ceramic microstructures. Evaluation and characterization of ceramic microstructures is often implemented on similar spatial scales to that used commonly in the emerging field of nanotechnology: from tens of angstroms (A) to tens of micrometers (µm). This is typically somewhere between the minimum wavelength of visible light and the resolution limit of the naked eye.<br />The microstructure includes most grains, secondary phases, grain boundaries, pores, micro-cracks, structural defects and hardness microindentions. Most bulk mechanical, optical, thermal, electrical and magnetic properties are significantly affected by the observed microstructure. The fabrication method and process conditions are generally indicated by the microstructure. The root cause of many ceramic failures is evident in the cleaved and polished microstructure. Physical properties which constitute the field of materials science and engineering include the following:<br />[edit] Mechanical properties<br />Radial rotor made from Si3N4 for a gas turbine engine<br />Cutting disks made of SiC<br />The Porsche Carrera GT's carbon-ceramic (silicon carbide) disc brake<br />Mechanical properties are important in structural and building materials as well as textile fabrics. They include the many properties used to describe the strength of materials such as: elasticity / plasticity, tensile strength, compressive strength, shear strength, fracture toughness & ductility (low in brittle materials), and indentation hardness.<br />Fracture mechanics is the field of mechanics concerned with the study of the formation and subsequent propagation of microcracks in materials. It uses methods of analytical solid mechanics to calculate the thermodynamic driving force on a crack and the methods of experimental solid mechanics to characterize the material's resistance to fracture and catastrophic failure.<br />In modern materials science, fracture mechanics is an important tool in improving the mechanical performance of materials and components. It applies the physics of stress and strain, in particular the theories of elasticity and plasticity, to the microscopic crystallographic defects found in real materials in order to predict the macroscopic mechanical failure of bodies. Fractography is widely used with fracture mechanics to understand the causes of failures and also verify the theoretical failure predictions with real life failures.<br />Thus, since cracks and other microstructural defects can lower the strength of a structure beyond that which might be predicted by the theory of crystalline objects, a different property of the material—above and beyond conventional strength—is needed to describe the fracture resistance of engineering materials. This is the reason for the need for fracture mechanics: the evaluation of the strength of flawed structures.<br />In this context, Fracture toughness is a property which describes the ability of a material containing a crack to resist fracture, and is one of the most important properties of any material for virtually all design applications. Fracture toughness is a quantitative way of expressing a material's resistance to brittle fracture when a crack is present. If a material has a large value of fracture toughness it will probably undergo ductile fracture. Brittle fracture is very characteristic of materials with a low fracture toughness value. Fracture mechanics, which leads to the concept of fracture toughness, was largely based on the work of A. A. Griffith who, amongst other things, studied the behaviour of cracks in brittle materials.<br />Ceramic materials are usually ionic or covalent bonded materials, and can be crystalline or amorphous. A material held together by either type of bond will tend to fracture before any plastic deformation takes place, which results in poor toughness in these materials. Additionally, because these materials tend to be porous, the pores and other microscopic imperfections act as stress concentrators, decreasing the toughness further, and reducing the tensile strength. These combine to give catastrophic failures, as opposed to the normally much more gentle failure modes of metals.<br />These materials do show plastic deformation. However, due to the rigid structure of the crystalline materials, there are very few available slip systems for dislocations to move, and so they deform very slowly. With the non-crystalline (glassy) materials, viscous flow is the dominant source of plastic deformation, and is also very slow. It is therefore neglected in many applications of ceramic materials.<br />[edit] Electrical properties<br />[edit] Semiconductors<br />Some ceramics are semiconductors. Most of these are transition metal oxides that are II-VI semiconductors, such as zinc oxide.<br />While there are prospects of mass producting blue LEDs from zinc oxide, ceramicists are most interested in the electrical properties that show grain boundary effects.<br />One of the most widely used of these is the varistor. These are devices that exhibit the property that resistance drops sharply at a certain threshold voltage. Once the voltage across the device reaches the threshold, there is a breakdown of the electrical structure in the vicinity of the grain boundaries, which results in its electrical resistance dropping from several megohms down to a few hundred ohms. The major advantage of these is that they can dissipate a lot of energy, and they self reset — after the voltage across the device drops below the threshold, its resistance returns to being high.<br />This makes them ideal for surge-protection applications. As there is control over the threshold voltage and energy tolerance, they find use in all sorts of applications. The best demonstration of their ability can be found in electrical substations, where they are employed to protect the infrastructure from lightning strikes. They have rapid response, are low maintenance, and do not appreciably degrade from use, making them virtually ideal devices for this application.<br />Semiconducting ceramics are also employed as gas sensors. When various gases are passed over a polycrystalline ceramic, its electrical resistance changes. With tuning to the possible gas mixtures, very inexpensive devices can be produced.<br />[edit] Superconductivity<br />The Meissner effect demonstrated by levitating a magnet above a cuprate superconductor, which is cooled by liquid nitrogen<br />Under some conditions, such as extremely low temperature, some ceramics exhibit high temperature superconductivity. The exact reason for this is not known, but there are two major families of superconducting ceramics.<br />[edit] Ferroelectricity and supersets<br />Piezoelectricity, a link between electrical and mechanical response, is exhibited by a large number of ceramic materials, including the quartz used to measure time in watches and other electronics. Such devices use both properties of piezoelectrics, using electricity to produce a mechanical motion (powering the device) and then using this mechanical motion to produce electricity (generating a signal). The unit of time measured is the natural interval required for electricity to be converted into mechanical energy and back again.<br />The piezoelectric effect is generally stronger in materials that also exhibit pyroelectricity, and all pyroelectric materials are also piezoelectric. These materials can be used to inter convert between thermal, mechanical, and/or electrical energy; for instance, after synthesis in a furnace, a pyroelectric crystal allowed to cool under no applied stress generally builds up a static charge of thousands of volts. Such materials are used in motion sensors, where the tiny rise in temperature from a warm body entering the room is enough to produce a measurable voltage in the crystal.<br />In turn, pyroelectricity is seen most strongly in materials which also display the ferroelectric effect, in which a stable electric dipole can be oriented or reversed by applying an electrostatic field. Pyroelectricity is also a necessary consequence of ferroelectricity. This can be used to store information in ferroelectric capacitors, elements of ferroelectric RAM.<br />The most common such materials are lead zirconate titanate and barium titanate. Aside from the uses mentioned above, their strong piezoelectric response is exploited in the design of high-frequency loudspeakers, transducers for sonar, and actuators for atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopes.<br />[edit] Positive thermal coefficient<br />Silicon nitride rocket thruster. Left: Mounted in test stand. Right: Being tested with H2/O2 propellants<br />Increases in temperature can cause grain boundaries to suddenly become insulating in some semiconducting ceramic materials, mostly mixtures of heavy metal titanates. The critical transition temperature can be adjusted over a wide range by variations in chemistry. In such materials, current will pass through the material until joule heating brings it to the transition temperature, at which point the circuit will be broken and current flow will cease. Such ceramics are used as self-controlled heating elements in, for example, the rear-window defrost circuits of automobiles.<br />At the transition temperature, the material's dielectric response becomes theoretically infinite. While a lack of temperature control would rule out any practical use of the material near its critical temperature, the dielectric effect remains exceptionally strong even at much higher temperatures. Titanates with critical temperatures far below room temperature have become synonymous with quot;
ceramicquot;
in the context of ceramic capacitors for just this reason.<br />[edit] Optical properties<br />Cermax xenon arc lamp with synthetic sapphire output window<br />Optically transparent materials focus on the response of a material to incoming lightwaves of a range of wavelengths. Frequency selective optical filters can be utilized to alter or enhance the brightness and contrast of a digital image. Guided lightwave transmission via frequency selective waveguides involves the emerging field of fiber optics and the ability of certain glassy compositions as a transmission medium for a range of frequencies simultaneously (multi-mode optical fiber) with little or no interference between competing wavelengths or frequencies. This resonant mode of energy and data transmission via electromagnetic (light) wave propagation, though low powered, is virtually lossless. Optical waveguides are used as components in Integrated optical circuits (e.g. light-emitting diodes, LEDs) or as the transmission medium in local and long haul optical communication systems. Also of value to the emerging materials scientist is the sensitivity of materials to radiation in the thermal infrared (IR) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This heat-seeking ability is responsible for such diverse optical phenomena as Night-vision and IR luminescence.<br />Thus, there is an increasing need in the military sector for high-strength, robust materials which have the capability to transmit light (electromagnetic waves) in the visible (0.4 – 0.7 micrometers) and mid-infrared (1 – 5 micrometers) regions of the spectrum. These materials are needed for applications requiring transparent armor, including next-generation high-speed missiles and pods, as well as protection against improvised explosive devices (IED).<br />In the 1960s, scientists at General Electric (GE) discovered that under the right manufacturing conditions, some ceramics, especially aluminium oxide (alumina), could be made translucent. These translucent materials were transparent enough to be used for containing the electrical plasma generated in high-pressure sodium street lamps. During the past two decades, additional types of transparent ceramics have been developed for applications such as nose cones for heat-seeking missiles, windows for fighter aircraft, and scintillation counters for computed tomography scanners.<br />In the early 1970s, Thomas Soules pioneered computer modeling of light transmission through translucent ceramic alumina. His model showed that microscopic pores in ceramic, mainly trapped at the junctions of microcrystalline grains, caused light to scatter and prevented true transparency. The volume fraction of these microscopic pores had to be less than 1% for high-quality optical transmission.<br />This is basically a particle size effect. Opacity results from the incoherent scattering of light at surfaces and interfaces. In addition to pores, most of the interfaces in a typical metal or ceramic object are in the form of grain boundaries which separate tiny regions of crystalline order. When the size of the scattering center (or grain boundary) is reduced below the size of the wavelength of the light being scattered, the scattering no longer occurs to any significant extent.<br />In the formation of polycrystalline materials (metals and ceramics) the size of the crystalline grains is determined largely by the size of the crystalline particles present in the raw material during formation (or pressing) of the object. Moreover, the size of the grain boundaries scales directly with particle size. Thus a reduction of the original particle size below the wavelength of visible light (~ 0.5 micrometers for shortwave violet) eliminates any light scattering, resulting in a transparent material.<br />Recently[when?], Japanese scientists have developed techniques to produce ceramic parts that rival the transparency of traditional crystals (grown from a single seed) and exceed the fracture toughness of a single crystal[citation needed]. In particular, scientists at the Japanese firm Konoshima Ltd., a producer of ceramic construction materials and industrial chemicals, have been looking for markets for their transparent ceramics.<br />Livermore researchers realized that these ceramics might greatly benefit high-powered lasers used in the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Programs Directorate. In particular, a Livermore research team began to acquire advanced transparent ceramics from Konoshima to determine if they could meet the optical requirements needed for Livermore’s Solid-State Heat Capacity Laser (SSHCL)[ HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededquot;
quot;
Wikipedia:Citation neededquot;
citation needed]. Livermore researchers have also been testing applications of these materials for applications such as advanced drivers for laser-driven fusion power plants.<br />[edit] Examples of ceramics materials<br />Porcelain high-voltage insulator<br />Silicon carbide is used for inner plates of ballistic vests<br />Ceramic BN crucible<br />Until the 1950s, the most important ceramic materials were (1) pottery, bricks and tiles, (2) cements and (3) glass. A composite material of ceramic and metal is known as cermet.<br />Barium titanate (often mixed with strontium titanate) displays ferroelectricity, meaning that its mechanical, electrical, and thermal responses are coupled to one another and also history-dependent. It is widely used in electromechanical transducers, ceramic capacitors, and data storage elements. Grain boundary conditions can create PTC effects in heating elements.<br />Bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide, a high-temperature superconductor<br />Boron nitride is structurally isoelectronic to carbon and takes on similar physical forms: a graphite-like one used as a lubricant, and a diamond-like one used as an abrasive.<br />Earthenware used for domestic ware such as plates and mugs.<br />Ferrite is used in the magnetic cores of electrical transformers and magnetic core memory.<br />Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) was developed at the United States National Bureau of Standards in 1954. PZT is used as an ultrasonic transducer, as its piezoelectric properties greatly exceed those of Rochelle salt.[2]<br />Magnesium diboride (MgB2) is an unconventional superconductor.<br />Porcelain is used for a wide range of household and industrial products.<br />Sialon (Silicon Aluminium Oxynitride) has high strength; high thermal, shock, chemical and wear resistance, and low density. These ceramics are used in non-ferrous molten metal handling, weld pins and the chemical industry.<br />Silicon carbide (SiC) is used as a susceptor in microwave furnaces, a commonly used abrasive, and as a refractory material.<br />Silicon nitride (Si3N4) is used as an abrasive powder.<br />Steatite (magnesium silicates) is used as an electrical insulator.<br />Titanium carbide Used in space shuttle re-entry shields and scratchproof watches.<br />Uranium oxide (UO2), used as fuel in nuclear reactors.<br />Yttrium barium copper oxide (YBa2Cu3O7-x), another high temperature superconductor.<br />Zinc oxide ( HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zincquot;
quot;
Zincquot;
ZnO), which is a semiconductor, and used in the construction of varistors.<br />Zirconium dioxide (zirconia), which in pure form undergoes many phase changes between room temperature and practical sintering temperatures, can be chemically quot;
stabilizedquot;
in several different forms. Its high oxygen ion conductivity recommends it for use in fuel cells. In another variant, metastable structures can impart transformation toughening for mechanical applications; most ceramic knife blades are made of this material.<br />Partially stabilised zirconia (PSZ) is much less brittle than other ceramics and is used for metal forming tools, valves and liners, abrasive slurries, kitchen knives and bearings subject to severe abrasion.[3]<br />