From New World Encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search   The
word ceramic is derived from the Greek word κεραμικος
(keramikos), which means "having to do with pottery." The term
covers inorganic, nonmetallic materials that have been hardened
by baking at a high temperature. Up until the 1950s or so, the
most important of these were the traditional clays, made into
pottery, dinnerware, bricks, tiles, and the like. Since then,
new materials called advanced ceramics have been prepared and
are being used for a wide range of applications, including
components used by the aerospace, automotive, defense,
environmental, fiber-optic, and medical technologies.   Ceramic
parts are also used in cellular phones and personal computers.
Each of NASA's space shuttles has a coating of roughly 34,000
ceramic tiles, which protect it from the searing heat (up to
2,300 °F) produced during reentry into the atmosphere. Thus,
advanced ceramics are an integral part of the modern
technological revolution.   The American Society for T