Due to their high melting points and thermal resistance, ceramics are used widely as a construction material as well as domestic appliances
Glass Ceramics
- Transparent and strong, glass insulates against heat and its transparency makes glass the ideal material for making windows
- Glass ceramics are also more durable than other materials hence they are better suited for use in windows than plastic
- Most of the glass produced is soda-lime glass which is made by heating a mixture of limestone, sand and sodium carbonate (soda) until it melts
- On cooling it solidifies to form glass
- A variation is borosilicate glass which is made using sand and boron trioxide and has a higher melting point than soda-lime glass
Clay Ceramics
- These are hardened materials that resist compressive forces
- Clay is a soft material dug up from the earth which hardens at high temperatures and when it is fired, produces a very strong and hard material
- This allows bricks to be used to build walls which withstand the weight and pressure of the material bearing downwards on itself