Preface

This book provides an overview of theory, methods of synthesis, and applications of ceramic materials based on recent and innovative works. This book also provides a detailed description of synthesis methods, properties, and advanced applications of ceramics. Ceramic materials have proved to be advantageous for researchers and industries.

*Advanced Ceramic Materials*, which covers a wide area, helps students, academics, engineers, scientists, and other interested readers to understand the value of ceramics.

The book is divided into six sections. Section 1 presents an introduction to the latest developments in the field of ceramic materials. Section 2 focuses on the various types of ceramics materials and Section 3 presents different fabrication processes for ceramic materials. Section 4 presents the proprieties of ceramics. Section 5 discusses the various applications of ceramic materials, and Section 6 describes the challenges in Rietveld refinement and structure visualization.

This book is a valuable reference for all those working in the field of materials science, especially practicing engineers in materials processing and manufacturing technologies.

The editor would like to warmly thank all the authors for their contributions to this book. Thanks also to the whole team at IntechOpen for their support and help in putting the book together.

All suggestions for the improvement of this book will be gratefully acknowledged.

**Mohsen Mhadhbi** National Institute of Research and Physical-Chemical Analysis, Technopole Sidi Thabet 2020 Ariana, Tunsia

Section 1 Introduction
