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Ceramics are non-metallic materials capable of maintaining physical and chemical stability at high temperatures

An example of an industrial use of ceramics is shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center are lined with ceramic tiles to protect them from the heat of re-entry into earth’s atmosphere.

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The most famous for ceramics, however, were the ancient Romans and the ancient Chinese. Ceramics were mostly pottery in the ancient times. At first, pots were made by hand with rolled coils and fired on the ground in bonfires. Later the Potter’s wheel was invented, firing is made more fuel efficient and controlled with kilns, and glazes are developed to make pottery more artistic. The earliest Known pot was created as early as 10,000 B.C.E, the earliest know glazes are found in the Nile Valley about 5,000 B.C.E, and Potters Wheels are known to have been used in the Indus River Valley about 3 to 4,000 BC but possibly earlier. Ceramics may have been around much longer than we have evidence of, but most of the pottery was not fired correctly because the kiln was not invented until the later years, so it may have became soft and disintegrated. Modern Pottery, such as the one you see to the left of this text, is a very time-consuming process, but as you can tell it looks magnificent.

The first step in making ceramics is shaping the figure with clay. Let the clay sit until completely dry. Now it is ready to be placed into the kiln. To decorate the piece of artwork, add glaze onto the surface of your artwork. Remember not to paint the bottom! It will stick to the kiln.

Kilns are an essential part of the making of all ceramics, whichrequire heat treatment at high temperature. During this process, chemical and physical reactions occur which cause the material to be permanently altered. In the case of pottery, clay materials are shaped, dried and then fired in a kiln. The final characteristics are...