Glass and ceramics are familiar to most people, but a new type of inorganic non-metallic material exists on the market-glass-ceramics. The difference between the three lies in their microstructure. Although all belong to the category of inorganic non-metallic materials (or silicate materials), glass is amorphous, ceramics are crystalline (polycrystalline), and glass-ceramics are composite materials combining crystalline and glass phases. In fact, many functional glass materials today have abandoned traditional silicates or quartz, turning to fluorides, phosphates, chalcogenides, and heavy oxides. Many functional ceramic materials also have no connection to silicates. Glass-ceramics, as a composite material of crystalline and glass phases made through high-temperature melting, molding, and heat treatment, are generally made from reprocessed glass and are also known as microcrystalline glass. They combine the properties of both glass and ceramics, possessing superior properties such as high mechanical strength, adjustable coefficient of thermal expansion, thermal shock resistance, chemical corrosion resistance, low dielectric loss, and low conductivity, resulting in a very wide range of market applications.
Glass-ceramics are polycrystalline ceramic materials obtained by controlling the crystallization of glass. They combine the advantages of both glass and ceramics, and generally outperform metals and their organic polymers in terms of thermal, chemical, biological, optical, and electrical properties. Glass-ceramics were first synthesized in the mid-1950s by the renowned glass chemist and inventor S.D. Stookey, but further research on them did not advance until the 1970s. Today, they are hailed by many experts as a new type of ceramic material for the 21st century.
