Processing of Ceramics and

Glasses

IPE 201: Manufacturing Processes I

Prof. Dr. A.K.M. Nurul Amin
IPE Department, MIST

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Introduction

▪ Metallic and non-metallic materials are not suitable

for all engineering applications.
▪ For many applications we need ceramics and glasses that
have characteristics, such as high-temperature strength
and hardness, low electrical and thermal conductivity,
chemical inertness, and resistance to wear and corrosion.
▪ Owing to these excellent properties ceramics and glasses
have found wide range of applications which includes
parts such as floor tiles, dishes, electrical insulators,
spark plugs and ball bearings.
▪ Some examples of ceramic parts are shown in the next 2
Ceramic Parts

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What are Ceramics?

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Classification

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Classification of Ceramics based on
Application

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Production Process of Ceramic Parts

▪ Production of some ceramic parts (such as pottery,

ovenware, or floor tiles) involves the following steps
(Fig. 18.2):
1. Crushing or grinding the raw materials into very
fine particles
2. Mixing them with additives to impart certain
desirable characteristics
3. Shaping, drying, and firing the material.
❑ Ceramics may be subjected to additional processing,
such as machining and grinding, for better control of
dimensions and surface finish.

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Fig. 18.2: Steps involved in ceramic processing

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 Ceramic Processing

Fig. (a) Steps in ceramic processing; (b) Condition of powders at

different steps of processing

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Raw materials

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Processing of ceramics
• The first step in processing ceramics is the crushing (also
called comminution or milling) of the raw materials.
• Crushing generally is done in a ball mill either dry or wet.
• Wet crushing is more effective, because it keeps the
particles together and also prevents the suspension of
fine particles in the air.
• The particles then may be sized (passed through a sieve),
filtered, and washed.

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Mechanical Method of Producing ceramic
powders

Fig. Mechanical Method of Producing ceramic powders: (a)

Ball Mill, (b) Roller Mill, (c) Impact grinding

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Ingredients of ceramic pastes for shaping

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Functions of Additives
The ground particles are mixed with additives-the
functions of which are one or more of the following:
• Binder: for holding ceramic particles together
• Lubricant: to reduce internal friction between
particles during molding and to help remove the part
from the mold
• Wetting agent: to improve mixing
• Plasticizer: to make the mix more plastic and
formable
• Agents: to control foaming and sintering.

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• Deflocculent: to make the ceramic-water
suspension more uniform by changing the electrical
charges on the particles of clay (so that the
particles repel rather than attract each other).
Water is added to make the mixture more pourable
and less viscous.
• Typical deflocculents are: Na2CO3 and Na2SiO3 in
amounts of less than 1 %.

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Three basic shaping processes for
ceramics

The three basic shaping processes for ceramics

are:
o casting,
o plastic forming, and
o pressing.

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Shaping Processes

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Processing of Ceramics
Table: Characteristics of Ceramic Processing

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YouTube Video – 1:

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Casting
▪ The most common casting process is slip casting (also
called drain casting), as illustrated in Fig. 18.3.
▪ A slip is a suspension of colloidal (small particles that
do not settle) ceramic particles in an immiscible
liquid (insoluble in each other), which is generally
water.
▪ The slip is poured into a porous mold, typically made
of plaster of paris.
▪ Molds also may consist of several components.
▪ The slip must have sufficient fluidity and low enough
viscosity to flow easily into the mold, much like the
importance of fluidity of molten metals in casting 20
operations
FIGURE 18.3 Sequence of operations in slip casting a ceramic part: (a)
Empty mold, (b) Pouring, (c) Invert to remove excess material, (d)
Trimming, (e) Cast part
• After the slip has been poured, the part is dried and fired in an oven to
give it strength and hardness.

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Tutorial of Slip Casting

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Doctor-blade Process
❖ Thin sheets of ceramics [less than 1.5 mm thick]
can be made by a casting technique called the
doctor-blade process (Fig. 18.4).
❖ The slip is cast over a moving plastic belt while
its thickness is controlled by a blade.
❖ Ceramic sheets also may be produced by other
methods, including:
(a) rolling the slip between pairs of rolls and
(b) casting the slip over a paper tape, which
subsequently burns off during firing.

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FIGURE 18.4 Production of ceramic sheets through the
doctor-blade process.
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YouTube Video on Tape Casting

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Pressing
• In the pressing process, a gob of molten glass is placed into
a mold and pressed into a confined cavity with a plunger.
• The mold may be made in one piece (such as that shown in
Fig. 18.11, or it may be a split mold (Fig. 18.12).
• After being pressed, the solidifying glass acquires the shape
of the mold plunger cavity.
• Because of the confined environment, the product has a
higher dimensional accuracy than can be obtained with
blowing.
• Pressing in one-piece molds cannot be used for (a) shapes
of products from which the plunger cannot be retracted or
(b) thin-walled items.

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FIGURE 18.11 Manufacturing a glass item by pressing glass into
a mold.

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Dry Pressing
• Dry Pressing. This is a technique similar to
powder-metal compaction. Dry pressing is used for
relatively simple shapes, such as White-ware,
refractories for furnaces, and abrasive products.
• The moisture content of the mixture generally is
below 4%, but it may be as high as 12%. Organic and
inorganic binders (such as stearic acid, Wax, starch,
and polyvinyl alcohol) usually are added to the
mixture; these additives also act as lubricants.
• The pressing pressure ranges from 35 to 200 MPa.
• Modern presses used for dry pressing are highly
automated.
• Dies usually are made of carbides or of hardened steel.
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Dry Pressing

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Semi Dry Pressing

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Wet Pressing.
• In wet pressing, the part is formed in a mold while
under high pressure in a hydraulic or mechanical
press.
• This process generally is used to make intricate
shapes.
• Moisture content usually ranges from 10 to 15%.
• Production rates are high;
• However, this process has the following limitations:
(a) part size is limited,
(b) dimensional control is difficult to achieve because
of shrinkage during drying, and
(c) tooling costs can be high.
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lsostatic Pressing.
• Used extensively in powder metallurgy. Isostatic
pressing is also used for ceramics in order to obtain a
uniform density distribution throughout the part
during compaction.
• For example, automotive spark-plug, insulators and
silicon-nitride parts for high-temperature
applications.

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YouTube Video

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Jiggering.
A series of steps is needed to make ceramic plates.
▪ First, clay slugs are extruded and formed into a bat
over a plaster mold.
▪ Then they are jiggered on a rotating mold (Fig. 18.5).
▪ Jiggering is a motion in which the clay bat is formed
by means of templates or rollers.
▪ The part then is dried and fired.
▪ The jiggering process is confined to axisymmetric
parts and has limited dimensional accuracy.
▪ The operation is automated for improved
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Extruding and Jiggering

Fig. Fig. 18.5 (a) Extruding and (b) Jiggering processes

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Video on Extrusion
Video on Jiggering

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Injection Molding
▪ Injection molding is used extensively for the precision forming
of ceramics in high-technology applications, such as for
rocket-engine components.
▪ The raw material is mixed with a binder, such as a
thermoplastic polymer (polypropylene, low-density
polyethylene, or ethylene vinyl acetate) or wax.
▪ The binder usually is removed by pyrolysis (inducing chemical
changes by heat); the part is then sintered by firing.
▪ The injection-molding process can produce thin sections
[typically less than 10 to 15 mm thick] from most engineering
ceramics, such as alumina, zirconia, silicon nitride, silicon
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carbide, and sialon.
• Thicker sections require careful control of the
materials used and of the processing parameters in
order to avoid defects, such as internal voids and
cracks-especially those due to shrinkage.

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Hot Pressing.
▪ In this process (also called pressure sintering), the
pressure and the heat are applied simultaneously, thereby
reducing porosity and making the part denser and
stronger.
▪ Graphite commonly is used as a punch and die material,
and protective atmospheres usually are employed during
pressing.
▪ Hot isostatic pressing also may be used, particularly to
improve shape accuracy and the quality of
high-technology ceramics, such as silicon carbide and
silicon nitride.
▪ Glass-encapsulated HIP processing has been shown to be
effective for this purpose.
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Drying and Firing

• The next step in ceramic processing is to dry and fire

the part to give it the proper strength and hardness.
• Drying is a critical stage because of the tendency for
the part to Warp or crack from variations in moisture
content and in thickness.
• Control of atmospheric humidity and of ambient
temperature is important in order to reduce warping
and cracking.
• Loss of moisture during drying causes shrinkage of the
part by as much as 20% from the original, moist size
(Fig. 18.6).

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Shrinkage

Fig. Shrinkage of wet clay caused by removal of water during

drying (a) wet, (b) after drying, (c) after firing
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Sintering
• Firing (also called sintering) involves heating the part
to an elevated temperature in a controlled
environment.
• Some shrinkage occurs during firing.
• Firing gives the ceramic part its strength and hardness.

This improvement in properties results from:

(a) the development of a strong bond between the complex
oxide particles in the ceramic and
(b) reduced porosity.

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EXAMPLE I8.1 Dimensional Changes During the
Shaping of Ceramic Components
▪ A solid, cylindrical ceramic part is to be made
with a final length, Lf of 20 mm. For this material,
it has been established that linear shrinkages
during drying and firing are 7% and 6%,
respectively, based on the dried dimension, Ld.
▪ Calculate:
(a) the initial length, Lo, of the part and
(b) the dried porosity, Pd, if the porosity of the
fired part, Pf, is 3%.
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Solution
a. On the basis of the information given and
noting that drying is done before firing, we can write:

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b. Since the final porosity is 3%, the actual volume, Va, of
the solid material in the part is:

where Vf is the fired volume of the part. Because the linear

shrinkage during firing is 6 %, we can determine the dried
volume, Vd, of the part as:

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Therefore, the porosity, Pd, of the dried part is 19%.

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•

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Therefore, the dry porosity is 19% and the green
porosity, Pg, of the dried part is 26%.

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Flat-sheet and Plate Glass
• Flat-sheet glass can be made by the float glass
method or by drawing or rolling it from the molten
state.
In the float method (Fig. 18.7), molten glass from the
furnace is fed into a long bath in which the glass-under
a controlled atmosphere and at a temperature of
115O°C-floats over a bath of molten tin.
The glass then moves at a temperature of about 650°C
over rollers into another chamber, where it solidifies.
Float glass has smooth surfaces, so further grinding or
polishing is not necessary.
The width can be as much as 4 m.
Both thin and plate glass are made by this process.
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Sheet glass forming

Figure 18.7: Continuous sheet glass drawing from molten bath

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• The process of making tubes involves extrusion of a
strip of glass, which is then wrapped obliquely
around a rotating mandrel.
• The molten glass blends across adjacent layers, and
the resultant tube is drawn off the mandrel in a
Continuous process.

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Glass Tubing

Fig. Manufacturing Process of Glass Tubing

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Sheet Metal Production: YouTube Video

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Discrete Glass Products
• Blowing. Hollow and thin-walled glass items (such as
bottles, vases, and flasks) are made by blowing-a process
that is similar to the blow molding of thermoplastics.
• The steps involved in the production of an ordinary glass
bottle by the blowing process are shown in Fig. 18.10.
• Blown air expands a hollow gob of heated glass against the
inner walls of the mold.
• The mold usually is coated with a parting agent (such as oil
or emulsion) to prevent the glass from sticking to the mold.
• Blowing may be followed by a second blowing operation for
finalizing product shape, called the blow and blow process.

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Manufacturing Process of Glass Bottles

Fig. Steps in
Manufacturing of
Glass Bottles

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 Pressing of glass into Desired Shape
• The different steps of the process is shown in
Figure 18.12

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FIGURE 18.12 Pressing glass into a split mold.

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Centrifugal Casting.
• Also known in the glass industry as spinning
(Fig. 18.13), this process is similar to that used
for metals.
• The centrifugal force pushes the molten glass
against the mold wall, where it solidifies.
• Typical products made are large lenses for
research telescopes and some architectural
shapes.

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Figure 18.13. Centrifugal casting of Large telescope lenses
and television-tube funnels are made by this process.
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Techniques for Strengthening and Annealing
Glass
• Glass can be strengthened by a number of
processes, and discrete glass products may be
subjected to annealing and to other finishing
operations to impart desired properties and
surface characteristics.
• Thermal Tempering. In this process (also called
physical tempering or Chill tempering), the
surfaces of the hot glass are cooled rapidly by a
blast of air (Fig. 18.14).
• As a result, the surfaces shrink and (at first) tensile
stresses develop on the surfaces.

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FIGURE 18.14 (a) The stages involved in inducing compressive surface
residual stresses for improved strength. (b) Residual stresses in a tempered
glass plate.
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• As the bulk of the glass begins to cool, it contracts. The
already solidified surfaces of the glass are then forced to
contract, and consequently, they develop residual
compressive surface stresses, while the interior develops
tensile stresses.
• Compressive surface stresses improve the strength of the
glass in the same way that they do in metals and other
materials.
• The higher the coefficient of thermal expansion of the glass
and the lower its thermal conductivity, the higher will be
the level of residual stresses developed, and hence, the
stronger the glass becomes.
• Thermal tempering takes a relatively short time (minutes)
and can be applied to most glasses.
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Glass Ceramics Manufacture.
• Glass ceramics (trade names: Pyroceram,
Corningware) contain large proportions of
several oxides, thus, their manufacture
involves a combination of the methods used
for ceramics and glasses.
• Glass ceramics are shaped into discrete
products (such as dishes and baking pans) and
then heat treated, whereby glass becomes
devitrified (recrystallized).

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Glass Ceramic YouTube Video

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Glass Fibers
• Continuous glass fibers are drawn through multiple orifices
(200 to 400 holes) in heated platinum plates at speeds as
high as 500 m/s.
• Fibers as small as 2 μm in diameter can be produced by this
method.
• In order to protect their surfaces, fibers subsequently are
coated with chemicals.
• Short fibers (chopped) are produced by subjecting long
fibers to compressed air or steam as they leave the orifice.
• Glass wool (short glass fibers)-used as a thermal insulating
material or for acoustic insulation-is made by a centrifugal
spraying process in which molten glass is ejected (spun)
from a rotating head.
• The diameter of the fibers is typically in the range from 20
to 30 μm.
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YouTube Video on Glass Fiber Production

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Finishing Operations
▪ Because firing causes dimensional changes, additional
operations may be performed to:
(a) give the ceramic part its final shape,
(b) improve its surface finish and dimensional tolerances, and
(c) remove any surface flaws.
▪ Although they are hard and brittle, major advances have
been made in producing machinable ceramics and
grindable ceramics, thus enabling the production of
ceramic components with high dimensional accuracy and
a good surface finish.
▪ An example is silicon carbide, which can be machined into
final shapes from sintered blanks.

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Finishing Processes

The finishing Processes employed can be one or more of

the following operations:
1. Grinding (using a diamond wheel)
2. Lapping and honing
3. Ultrasonic machining
4. Drilling (using a diamond-coated drill)
5. Electrical-discharge machining
6. Laser-beam machining
7. Abrasive water-jet cutting
8. Tumbling (to remove sharp edges and grinding

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✔ Process selection is an important consideration because of
the brittle nature of most ceramics and the additional costs
involved in some of these processes.
✔ The effect of the finishing operation on the properties of the
product also must be considered.
✔ For instance, because of notch sensitivity, the finer the
finish, the higher the part’s strength and load-carrying
capacity-particularly its fatigue strength.

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Glaze or Enamel Coating

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Finishing Operations

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Thank you

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