Ever wondered how the paints and stickers used for road signs reflect? Ever
wondered what went wrong with the ill fated space shuttle that carried Kalpana
Chawla? Ever wondered what are the main components of a picture tube in
Televisions or what a hard disk of a computer is made of? All this have to do
with ceramic engineering. As Richard Brown but it ,”it is more than dinner
plates and toilet bowls. In ceramic engineering materials are taken directly
from the earth and through a high temperature process, is converted to use in
useful products like spark plugs, glass and even table ware. This is an
engineering field where the possibilities are unlimited.
Ceramic engineering focuses on making
new materials that improves the performance of products or in some cases, even
make many things possible. A ceramic engineer may develop materials that can
enclose and support aircraft or rocket engines that work at high temperatures.
A ceramic engineer could work on developing improved heat tiles that will
protect supersonic space shuttle from over heating when it enters the earth’s
atmosphere. In health care also, the ceramic teeth which is used for teeth
replacement and even replacements to joints are made by ceramic engineers. Many
medical equipments performance has been enhanced by the use of ceramics. For
example, the fiber optic cables that allows the doctor to see inside of the
human body.
The field has contributed to the telecommunication world, with optic cable that
permits the human voice to travel thousands of miles under the water without
distortion.
Ceramic engineering has contributed
to the manufacture of innovative and ultra fast supercomputer systems with
superconductors and lasers.
In fact ceramics use is so widespread that it is possible to see their
influence in almost every product. In electrification, ceramics are used in
electrical insulators for power lines and insulators for industrial and
household applications. Engine sensors, catalytic converters, spark plugs are
where ceramics are used in automobiles. In electronics capacitors,
piezoelectric, magnets and superconductors use ceramics to a large extend. The
glass tube CRT, glass faceplate, phosphor coating and electrical components in
radio and TV and glass fibre insulation and ceramic magnet in air-conditioning
are examples of use of ceramics. Ceramic has one of the largest usages in space
exploration where it is used in space shuttle, electromagnetic and transparent
windows and telescope lenses. In nuclear power plants ceramics are used to
house fuel pellets, control rods and even to store used fuel.
So the next time when confronted with the questions that what a touch screen is
made of, the answer is straight and simple!
Top
