Ceramic-forming processes usually start with a powder which is then compacted into a porous shape, achieving maximum particle packing density with a high degree of uniformity. This article compares and contrasts several forming processes, including mechanical consolidation, dry pressing, cold isostatic pressing, slip casting, tape casting, roll compaction, extrusion, and injection molding. It describes the advantages, equipment and tooling, and material requirements of green machining, the machining of ceramics in an unfired state with the intent of producing parts as close to as possible to their final shape. The article also provides useful information on drying methods, shrinkage, and defects as well as the removal of organic processing aids such as dispersants, binders, plasticizers, and lubricants.

Ceramic-metal composites, or cermets, combine the heat and wear resistance of ceramics with the formability of metals, filling an application niche that includes cutting tools, brake pads, heat shields, and turbine components. This article examines a wide range of cermets, including oxide cermets, carbide and carbonitride cermets, boride cermets, and other refractory types. It describes the powder metallurgy process by which cermets are produced, examining each step from powder preparation to post treatment. It discusses forming and compacting, injection molding, extrusion, rolling, pressing, slip casting, and sintering. It also discusses fundamental concepts such as chemical bonding, chemical composition, microstructure, and the development of physical and mechanical properties.

This article provides an overview of the steps that are used in ceramics processing and related mechanical design considerations. It discusses various design approaches, such as the empirical design, the deterministic design, and the probabilistic design. The article presents a general process design flowchart for ceramic processing. Information on traditional ceramics and advanced ceramics is also provided. The article describes various ceramic forming processes, such as wet processing, plastic forming, dry processing, and machining. The factors for evaluating different ceramic forming processes are summarized in a table. The article discusses vitrification and sintering that generally pertain to ceramic firing and concludes with a discussion on firing process factors.

This article discusses the properties and uses of structural ceramics and the basic processing steps by which they are made. It describes raw material preparation, forming and fabrication, thermal processing, and finishing. It provides information on the composition, microstructure, and properties of aluminum oxides, aluminum titanate, silicon carbide, boron carbide, zirconia, silicon nitride, silicon-aluminum-oxynitride, and several ceramic composites. It also explains how these materials maintain their mechanical strength and dimensional tolerances at high temperatures and how some of their shortcomings are being addressed.

Fretting is a special wear process that occurs at the contact area between two materials under load and subject to slight relative movement by vibration or some other force. This article focuses on measures to avoid or minimize crack initiation and fretting fatigue. It lists the factors that are known to influence the severity of fretting and discusses the variables that contribute to shear stresses. These variables include normal load, relative displacement (slip amplitude), and coefficient of friction. The article describes the general geometries and loading conditions for fretting fatigue. It presents the types of fretting fatigue tests and the effect of variables on fretting fatigue from different research test programs. The article also lists the general principles and practical methods for the abatement or elimination of fretting fatigue.

Fretting is a special wear process that occurs at the contact area between two materials under load and subject to slight relative movement by vibration or some other force. During fretting fatigue, cracks can initiate at very low stresses, well below the fatigue limit of nonfretted specimens. This article describes the mechanisms of fretting and fretting fatigue; stress analysis, modeling, and prediction of fretting fatigue; fretting fatigue testing; and fretting prevention methods. Three general geometries and loading conditions for fretting fatigue, along with their remedies, are reviewed.

This article is an atlas of fractographs that helps in understanding the causes and mechanisms of fracture of cobalt alloys (cast Vitallium and cast ASTM F75 alloys) and in identifying and interpreting the morphology of fracture surfaces. The fractographs illustrate the fatigue fracture, microcrack, and stair-step fracture surface of these alloys.

Porcelain enamels are glass coatings applied primarily to products or parts made of sheet steel, cast iron, and aluminum to improve appearance and to protect the metal surface. This article describes the types of porcelain enamels, and details enamel frits for these materials. It provides a list of steels suitable for porcelain enameling and discusses the most important factors considered in the selection of steel for porcelain enameling. The article briefly presents the preparation methods of these materials for porcelain enameling and covers the methods, and furnaces of porcelain enameling. It examines the role of coating thickness, firing time and temperature, metal substrate, and color on the performance of enameled surfaces. The article concludes with a discussion on the properties of enameled surfaces, factors considered in process control, and test procedures for evaluating the quality of enameled surfaces.

This article is an atlas of fractographs that helps in understanding the causes and mechanisms of fracture of pure irons and in identifying and interpreting the morphology of fracture surfaces. The fractographs illustrate the grain-boundary cavitation; slip lines; intergranular fracture; cleavage fracture; notch-impact fracture; oxide inclusions and blowholes; ductile rupture; impact fracture and tensile-test fracture surfaces; fatigue striations; and crack initiation and propagation of pure irons.

This article describes a method to predict mechanical properties of cast iron materials and illustrates how to use the predictions in computer-aided tools for the analysis of castings subjected to load. It outlines some ways to predict the hardness and elastic modulus of cast iron without going into dislocation theory. The article discusses modeling of hardness in cast iron based on a regular solution equation in which the properties of each phase depend on chemical composition and coarseness. It describes the evaluation of material parameters from the tensile stress-strain curve. The article concludes with an illustration of a finite-element method (FEM) model containing heterogeneous mechanical properties using local material definitions.

This article describes the effects of cyclic fatigue properties on aluminum alloys. It provides a discussion on strain-control fatigue and the effects of two microstructural features on the strain life of aluminum alloys: shearable precipitates and precipitate-free zones. The article discusses various models of fatigue crack growth (FCG) and the effects of alloy microstructure and composition on FCG.

A computational tool would require the contribution of the strengthening mechanisms of metallic material to be predicted and then summed in an appropriate way to derive an estimate of the tensile properties. This article focuses on the modeling of deformation mechanisms pertinent to structural materials, namely, solid-solution strengthening, age/precipitation hardening, dispersion strengthening, grain size reduction, strengthening from cold work, and strengthening from interfaces. It explains the application of predictive models in the atomistic modeling of dislocation structures and cast aluminum property prediction. The article concludes with information on the use of rules-based approaches and data-mining techniques for quantitative predictions of tensile properties.