CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PROPERTIES-COMPOSITION-PROCESSING OF CERAMIC MATERIALS USED IN SEVERE MECHANICAL CONDITIONS Part I - CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PROPERTIES AND THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

In the field of advanced ceramics, the obtaining of some high strength ceramic materials is, nowadays, of interest for a series of practical applications. Their properties are highly correlated with their chemical composition and their processing methods. In this article we try to highlight the main types of ceramic materials which are of interest for the targeted field. The mechanical and thermal properties of the ceramic compounds are determined by the electronic structure of their atoms and by their high degree of covalent chemical bonds. Based on information from literature and from some own preliminary result, we have highlighted, for the Al(2)O(3) ceramics, the interdependence between the main mechanical properties and their Al(2)O(3) content.