Technical Ceramics covers ceramic materials and products for technical application. Terms such as:
beschreiben Produktgruppen der Technischen Keramik, lassen aber wegen Überschneidungen keine eindeutige Klassifizierung zu.
Components which fulfill an electrical, magnetic, dielectrical, optical etc. function belong to this group.
Components which are subjected mainly to mechanical loads (tensile and pressure strain, bending moments etc.) fall under the category structural ceramic. Sometimes the terms industrial or engineering ceramics are also used for these products.
In ENV 12212 high-performance ceramics are defined as "highly developed, high-performance applicable ceramic material, which is mainly non-metallic and inorganic, and has certain functional properties." The term is seen as a differentiation to traditional clay based ceramic that includes china-ware, sanitary ceramic tiles and bricks and covers all technical ceramics. The materials for electrical engineering are standardised in IEC 627.
The term used above are often still used in classify technical ceramics. However an unambiguous classification is only possible if the materials are listed under their chemical composition:
An overview based on DIN 60 672 is provided at the list Material overview