Ceramics and composites
Ceramics and composites – interactive engineering module focused on joining ceramics and composites. Learning format: Decision guide · Active learning. Explains the principle, technical relationships and practical use.
Topic overview
Ceramics have high hardness and excellent temperature and chemical resistance, but low fracture toughness and virtually no plastic reserve. Composites offer high specific strength, but are anisotropic and sensitive to delamination, moisture, the matrix glass-transition temperature and surface quality. The joint must therefore be designed as a system: material — interlayer — geometry — thermal cycle — inspection — service environment.
Al₂O₃, ZrO₂, SiC, Si₃N₄, AlN, glasses and glass-ceramics. They provide excellent hardness, wear resistance and thermal stability, but fail in a brittle manner and are sensitive to local tensile stress.
SiC/SiC, C/SiC, oxide/oxide. They have better damage tolerance than monolithic ceramics, but the fibre/matrix interface is a functional part of the material.
CFRP, GFRP and aramid composites with a thermoset or thermoplastic matrix. Strength is directional, so the joint must respect fibre orientation.
What the module covers
- For ceramics and composites, the main question is not “which process can weld this?”, but how to transfer the load without destroying the material.
- Material groups and typical limitations
- Monolithic ceramics
- Ceramic-matrix composites (CMC)
- Polymer-matrix composites
- Metal matrix composites
- Why conventional fusion welding is usually insufficient
- Ceramics have no plastic reserve
Related engineering terms
The module connects these terms with practical engineering explanations:
Continue with the practical module.
Open this topic directly in the interactive WeldScope portal.