Transactions of the INDIAN CERAMIC SOCIETY Vol. 50 1991
World Status of Structural Ceramics and their
Commercialization in India
D. C. AGRAWAL
Pages : 118-123
DOI : 10.1080/0371750X.1991.10804505
Abstract
Analysis of the world status of structural ceramics shows that the
products which have already been commercialized are mainly bearing
and bearing parts, cutting tools and wear resistant parts. The worldwide
sale of structural ceramic products today is worth about one
billion dollars. This is expected to increase to over three billion dollars
in the next five years. The rate of growth after that is expected to be
even more rapid due to the expected commercialisation of the heat
engine components.
Some of the emerging technologies in the area of structural ceranlics
are high performance ceramic coatings, sol-gel technology and
ceramic matl'ix composites. The market for the coatings is growing at
the rate of 9.5% and should grow faster after 1995 with theil' application
in the heat engines. The sol-gel technology products are just begin·
ning to get commercialized but al'e predicted to achieve the fastest
growth rate of 117% per year. In view of the large resources needed
to develop a structural ceramic product from the inception stage to
its commercialization, the choice of products to be developed should
be made after a careful market study. Such development efforts can
be undertaken by a conso1 tium of industry, research and academic
institutions. A scheme for product selection is presented. The high
performance ceramic coatings area does appear to be the one in which
allocation of such resources would be justified. The sol-gel techno·
logy should also be examined as it is just emerging and growing very
rapidly.
