Modern approaches for the production of ceramic components

New materials are vitally important in industrial development. They are mostly the start of a technology chain leading to the final product via a number of value-added stages. Application experience often produces feedback for improvement and optimization of the production process and the material itself. Machining ceramics makes high demands in terms of component quality and process economics. 'Ceramic-adapted machining' is therefore essential for production of advanced ceramic components. This includes both optimization of existing processes and development and testing of new machining technologies. This article presents material-adapted machining technologies and their potential for advanced ceramic components. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Limited.