ceramic composition and properties: Quick Facts

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Diagram showing three common metallic crystal structures: body-centred cubic with one atom at the center, face-centred cubic with atoms at each face and corner, and hexagonal close-packed with layers of atoms forming a hexagonal pattern.

Figure 2A: The arrangement of magnesium and oxygen ions in magnesia (MgO); an example of the rock salt crystal structure.

Figure 2B: The arrangement of uranium and oxygen ions in urania (UO2); an example of the fluorite crystal structure.

Figure 2C: The arrangement of titanium, barium, and oxygen ions in barium titanate (BaTiO3); an example of the perovskite crystal structure.

Figure 2D: The arrangement of copper, yttrium, oxygen, and barium ions in yttrium barium copper oxide (YBa2Cu3O7); an example of a superconducting ceramic crystal structure.

Figure 3: Barriers to slip in ceramic crystal structures. Beginning with the rock salt structure of magnesia (MgO; shown at left), in which there is a stable balance of positive and negative charges, two possible crystallographic planes show the difficulty of establishing stable imperfections. The (111) plane (shown at top) would contain atoms of identical charge; inserted as an imperfection into the crystal structure, such an imbalanced distribution of charges would not be able to establish a stable bond. The (100) plane (shown at bottom) would show a balance between positive and negative charges, but a shear stress applied along the middle of the plane would force identically charged atoms into proximity—again creating a condition unfavourable for stable bonding.

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