Symmetry and Textured Ceramics
A special issue of Symmetry (ISSN 2073-8994). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemistry: Symmetry/Asymmetry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 97
Special Issue Editor
Interests: ceramic membranes; microfiltration; aluminium oxide; mullite; silicon nitride; silicon carbide; functional ceramics; refractory ceramics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Intrinsic crystallographic characteristics, especially symmetry operations along axes of symmetry with extrinsic microstructural combinations, govern the properties of ceramics. The term texture describes the preferred crystallographic orientation of grains in a polycrystalline material. Crystallographic texture enables access to a wide variety of anisotropic ceramic properties, thus enabling the enhancement and performance of anisotropic polycrystalline materials, especially when the use of single crystals is impractical or impossible. Textured polycrystalline ceramics possess mechanical reliability as well as compositional versatility. Many applications require the directional properties of single crystals, whereas others require the averaged isotropic properties of polycrystalline ceramics. For example, electrical properties can be enhanced by the elimination of high-angle grain boundaries in materials with directional electronic or ionic conduction. Likewise, mechanical compliance and related properties, such as piezoelectricity, can be improved by limiting the mechanical clamping caused by the misalignment of neighbouring grains. The continuity of properties across grain boundaries is the primary goal of a crystallographic texture in noncubic optical ceramics, because the alignment of optic axes of each grain eliminates the Mie scattering of photons at grain boundaries. The fracture toughness of ceramic materials is often enhanced in specific symmetry patterns, including layered or fibrous microstructures obtained by crystallographic texture. Alternately, crystallographic texture can be used to create microstructural anisotropy, such as columnar or tabular grains. Such anisotropic microstructures are useful for controlling electrical conductivity or dielectric properties in ceramics, since these properties strongly depend on grain-boundary effects. Although texture describes any non-random grain alignment in a polycrystalline material, only specific symmetry patterns, such as fibre- or sheet (biaxial)-texture symmetries, result in enhanced or single crystal-like properties.
In order to tailor the performances like magnetic, ferroelectric, thermoelectric, and superconducting ceramics, texturing has also been used extensively; for example, electrical properties can be enhanced by the elimination of high-angle grain boundaries in materials with directional electronic or ionic conduction.
This Special Issue aims to advance the state of the art on specific symmetry patterns in textured ceramic materials by fostering innovations in the development of microstructural anisotropy possessing improved magnetic, ferroelectric, thermoelectric, and superconducting properties, as well as optical and dielectric performance.
Dr. Aleksandra B. Šaponjić
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- crystallographic texture
- polycrystalline ceramics
- columnar or tabular grains
- noncubic optical ceramics
- ionic conduction
- microstructural anisotropy
- electrical conductivity
- dielectric properties
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