ABSTRACT
Ceramic materials have a wide range of electrical properties. Some ceramics do not conduct electricity but undergo internal charge polarization that allows the material to be used for storage of an electrical charge in capacitors. These electrical properties are determined primarily by the nature of the atomic bonding and the crystal structure. The chapter reviews some of the fundamentals of electricity and discusses electronic conduction, ionic conduction, insulators, semiconductors, and superconductors. Metals are the most widely recognized materials having electronic conduction. The atomic bonding in metals results in partially filled energy bands and electronic conduction. The atomic bonding in insulators and semiconductors results in energy bands that are either completely full or completely empty. Polymers are covalently bonded and have electron configurations similar to insulators and semiconductors; that is, their valence band is full, their conduction band is empty, and the two are separated by a large energy gap. Therefore, polymers have been traditionally thought of as electrical insulators.
