Objectives
In order to understand ceramics
in detail and to provide a stepping stone for further development, it is necessary to
develop a subject which covers a wide variety of ceramic topics from basics to
applications. Chemistry of Ceramic Materials is concerned with the synthesis,
structure, properties and applications of ceramic materials in their different forms:
powder, single crystals, films. Thus, the first part of this subject deals with the
methods that are used to synthesise ceramics and the physical techniques that are used to
analyse and study ceramic solids. Also we will be concerned wiht crystal structures and
the different ways in wich a particular structure may be described and classified. After
that we will consider an important structural aspect as the defect structure of ceramics.
At the end of this first part we will discuss the equilibrium phase diagram. It is well
known that the ability to interpret phase diagrams is vitally important in ceramic
materials.
In addition a second group of
lectures on a range of ceramic materials manufactured by the local industry, such as:
tiles, glazes, glasses, refractories and cements, will be given.
Evaluation system
The evaluation consists of a
test at the end of the term. The results can be improved doing homework, i.e. answering
around 200 questions and problems distributed at the beginning of term and/or a
bibliographic work proposed by the student. |