Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Klaus G. Nickel & Dr. Christoph Berthold
Teaching language: English
The course will deal with ceramics largely from a materials science point-of-view to give insight in the character, the manufacture and the properties of both modern and ancient ceramics. It will consist of theoretical lectures and practical exercises in a block of one week including an examination.
The course will start with a repetition of basic terms like compounds, chemical and mineralogical composition, structures, phases and phase diagrams and discuss the different meanings of the term clay. Both traditional clay based and modern ceramics will be presented. An introduction to experimental archaeometric investigations will include practical manufacturing of simple samples to make acquainted with the use and significance of tempering with different materials.
The samples will be fired in the lab and used for analytical studies, which will accompany the lectures on consolidation and sintering theory. A main goal here is the realisation of complex internal changes during the turning of a clay into a solid ceramic and the meaning of analyses.
We will give an introduction into the mechanical properties of ceramics by defining basic terms like forces, masses, stress, strain, elasticity, plasticity, brittleness, strength and toughness. Some measurement techniques to obtain basic characterization parameters will be performed in the lab before discussing the processes behind them (e.g. crack and crack growth, reliability, fatigue, thermal expansion, hardness, thermal shock).
(offered annually in winter semester as a block course)
