What Do Engineers Do?

Ceramic Engineering

• develop improved heat tiles to protect the space shuttle and the future supersonic space plane from the searing heat of reentry into the earth's atmosphere;
• produce ceramic teeth, bones, and joints to replace parts of the human body or improve advanced medical equipment to continue research in the war against disease;
• help make innovative, ultra-fast computer systems using ceramic superconductors, lasers, and glass optical fibers;
• develop materials to enclose and support aircraft engines that run at high temperatures; or
• improve fiber optic cables that allow doctors to see inside the human body and permit the human voice to travel to thousands of miles under the ocean without distortion.

The multi-billion dollar ceramic industry converts processed materials and raw materials taken directly from the earth (clay, sand, etc.) into such useful products as spark plugs, glass, electronic components, nuclear materials, abrasives, rocket components, and even tableware. High-temperature processing is the key to ceramic engineering, and the products are always inorganic, nonmetallic solids.

Related Links

American Ceramic Society