You may pass a chemicals plant, a paper mill, a semiconductor plant, or an automobile manufacturing plant on your drive home, all of which use ceramics. It’s hard to imagine an industry that does not depend heavily on ceramics. Some fascinating examples are included in Chapter 10 and 11.
Is it time to see your doctor for a yearly checkup? Ceramics do heavy-duty work in doctors ‘offices, clinics, and hospitals as key component in X-ray, CAT-scan, laser, and ultrasonic-imaging equipment. They are sterile containers for blood, urine, and bacterial cultures. Ceramics even are used extensively in surgery, especially to allow modern noninvasive endoscopic examinations and surgical procedures such as knee repairs and gall bladder operations. You’ll be amazed at the medical applications of ceramics reviewed in Chapter 8.
Do you go out to eat with your family at the end of a long day? Ceramics are busy at work in restaurants as they are in your kitchen at home. Even fast-food restaurants and the food services in malls and gasoline stations depend on ceramics. For example, next time you fill your glass from a soft-drink dispenser, take a closer look. The mixing valve that meters the syrup and carbonated water and guides the flow into your glass is often ceramic.