Ceramics and Composites

• Soda lime glass


  Most common type of glass, ideal for items such as windows and bottles
• Making soda lime glass

  1. Mix sand, sodium carbonate, and limestone

  2. Heat in a furnace until it melts

  3. Cool to solidify into desired shape
• Borosilicate glass


  Has a higher melting point than soda lime glass, useful for objects that require heating like kitchenware and labware
• Making borosilicate glass


  Melt a mixture of sand and boron trioxide
• Clay ceramics


  Ceramics made from clay, a mineral found in the ground, that can be shaped when wet and then hardened by heating
• Clay ceramic products


  • Pottery
  • Bricks
• Composites


  Made by combining two different materials - a reinforcement and a matrix/binder
• Composites


  • Carbon fiber composite (carbon fiber reinforcement, plastic resin matrix)
  • Reinforced concrete (steel bar reinforcement, concrete matrix)
• Composites


  • Have different properties than the individual materials that make them up