Structural Ceramics
As the name suggest, ceramics which serve as a structural member of the device, often being under mechanical loading, are classified under structural ceramics.
These ceramics demonstrate excellent mechanical properties with good thermodynamic stability under demanding conditions such as erosive, corrosive or high temperature environments. The strong bond strength in these ceramics allow them to be employed in several applications such as tiles for aerospace vehicles, thermal barrier coatings for gas turbines, tribological applications such as mineral processing unit, cutting tools for machining, abrasives for polishing and grinding etc. The fundamental research in this area involves understanding the effect of processing parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ceramic materials, testing the performance of ceramics under working environment etc.