A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain, and brick.
Zirconium dioxide, sometimes known as zirconia, is a white crystalline oxide of zirconium. Its most naturally occurring form, with a monoclinic crystalline structure, is the mineral baddeleyite. A dopant stabilized cubic structured zirconia, cubic zirconia, is synthesized in various colours for use as a gemstone and a diamond simulant.
Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum, is a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon. A semiconductor, it occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, but has been mass-produced as a powder and crystal since 1893 for use as an abrasive. Grains of silicon carbide can be bonded together by sintering to form very hard ceramics that are widely used in applications requiring high endurance, such as car brakes, car clutches and ceramic plates in bulletproof vests. Large single crystals of silicon carbide can be grown by the Lely method and they can be cut into gems known as synthetic moissanite.
Moissanite is naturally occurring silicon carbide and its various crystalline polymorphs. It has the chemical formula SiC and is a rare mineral, discovered by the French chemist Henri Moissan in 1893. Silicon carbide or moissanite is useful for commercial and industrial applications due to its hardness, optical properties and thermal conductivity.
An abrasive is a material, often a mineral, that is used to shape or finish a workpiece through rubbing which leads to part of the workpiece being worn away by friction. While finishing a material often means polishing it to gain a smooth, reflective surface, the process can also involve roughening as in satin, matte or beaded finishes. In short, the ceramics which are used to cut, grind and polish other softer materials are known as abrasives.
Sandpaper, also known as glasspaper or as coated abrasive, is a type of material that consists of sheets of paper or cloth with an abrasive substance glued to one face. In the modern manufacture of these products, sand and glass have been replaced by other abrasives such as aluminium oxide or silicon carbide. It is common to use the name of the abrasive when describing the paper, e.g. "aluminium oxide paper", or "silicon carbide paper".
In materials science, a refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat or chemical attack that retains its strength and rigidity at high temperatures. They are inorganic, non-metallic compounds that may be porous or non-porous, and their crystallinity varies widely: they may be crystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous, or composite. They are typically composed of oxides, carbides or nitrides of the following elements: silicon, aluminium, magnesium, calcium, boron, chromium and zirconium. Many refractories are ceramics, but some such as graphite are not, and some ceramics such as clay pottery are not considered refractory. Refractories are distinguished from the refractory metals, which are elemental metals and their alloys that have high melting temperatures.
Grinding wheels are wheels that contain abrasive compounds for grinding and abrasive machining operations. Such wheels are also used in grinding machines.
Sharpening stones, or whetstones, are used to sharpen the edges of steel tools such as knives through grinding and honing.
A diamond tool is a cutting tool with diamond grains fixed on the functional parts of the tool via a bonding material or another method. As diamond is a superhard material, diamond tools have many advantages as compared with tools made with common abrasives such as corundum and silicon carbide.
Ceramography is the art and science of preparation, examination and evaluation of ceramic microstructures. Ceramography can be thought of as the metallography of ceramics. The microstructure is the structure level of approximately 0.1 to 100 µm, between the minimum wavelength of visible light and the resolution limit of the naked eye. The microstructure includes most grains, secondary phases, grain boundaries, pores, micro-cracks and hardness microindentations. Most bulk mechanical, optical, thermal, electrical and magnetic properties are significantly affected by the microstructure. The fabrication method and process conditions are generally indicated by the microstructure. The root cause of many ceramic failures is evident in the microstructure. Ceramography is part of the broader field of materialography, which includes all the microscopic techniques of material analysis, such as metallography, petrography and plastography. Ceramography is usually reserved for high-performance ceramics for industrial applications, such as 85–99.9% alumina (Al2O3) in Fig. 1, zirconia (ZrO2), silicon carbide (SiC), silicon nitride (Si3N4), and ceramic-matrix composites. It is seldom used on whiteware ceramics such as sanitaryware, wall tiles and dishware.
Morgan Advanced Materials plc is a company which manufactures specialist products, using carbon, advanced ceramics and composites. The group is headquartered in Windsor, United Kingdom, and has 70 sites across 18 countries. It is listed as public limited company on the London Stock Exchange and is a component of the FTSE 250 Index.
The Schunk Group is a company headquartered in Germany. The most important fields of endeavor are carbon technology and ceramics, environmental simulation and climate technology, sintered metals as well as ultrasonic welding.
The CeramTec Group is a developer and manufacturer of products and components made of technical ceramics. The products are marketed through its own sales companies, among others. They are primarily used in medical technology, automotive engineering, electronics, equipment and mechanical engineering, environmental and energy technology, toolmaking, the chemical industry and the semiconductor industry. The company is headquartered in Plochingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Hexoloy is a registered trademark for a pressureless sintered form of alpha silicon carbide. Hexoloy SA is made by sintering silicon carbide powder. This process bonds the powder together to create a self-bonded product which is extremely hard and lightweight. It has a high resistance to corrosion, erosion, high temperature and thermal shock. It is ideal for applications involving liquid and hot gas exposure, mechanical seal faces, mineral and chemical processing kilns and furnaces. Even with use at high temperatures Hexoloy maintains high strength and stability. Hexoloy has high thermal conductivity, equal to that of stainless steel and 5 times that of alumina and excellent wear resistance – 50% harder than tungsten carbide.
Murugappa Group is an Indian conglomerate founded in 1900 by A. M. Murugappa Chettiar. The Group has 29 businesses including 10 companies listed on the NSE and the BSE. Headquartered in Chennai, the major companies of the Group include Carborundum Universal, Cholamandalam Financial Holdings, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance, Coromandel International, EID Parry, Parry Agro Industries, Shanthi Gears, Tube Investments of India, Wendt (India), and CG Power and Industrial Solutions.
Tube Investments of India Limited is an Indian engineering and manufacturing company that specializes in bicycles, metal formed products, and chains. It is based in Chennai and a part of Murugappa Group. It was incorporated as TI Cycles of India Limited in 1949, as a joint venture company.
Tyrolit is an Austrian company that develops, manufactures and markets abrasive products as well as concrete sawing and drilling equipment. With 29 production locations on 5 continents, the TYROLIT group belongs to the world’s largest producers of bonded abrasives. The company is based in Schwaz, Tyrol, Austria. TYROLIT, a registered trademark, was named after the mineral Tyrolite, first described in 1845 in Tyrol.
Saint-Gobain SEFPRO, founded in 1929, produces refractories for the glass industry. The company consists of plants, sales offices and Research and Development Centers employing over 2200 people across four continents, with headquarters in Le Pontet, Vaucluse, France. The group belongs to the Innovative Materials division of the Saint-Gobain group.
Kiln furniture are devices and implements inside furnaces used during the heating of manufactured individual pieces, such as pottery or other ceramic or metal components. Kiln furniture is made of refractory materials, i.e., materials that withstand high temperatures without deformation. Kiln furniture can account for up to 80% of the mass of a kiln charge.
₹4,731 crore (US$590 million) (FY23) [1] 
