Ceramics? Engineering ceramics or the traditional ceramics?
Engineering ceramics are the ones which can withstand ultimate temperatures even above than 2000 deg C and still they maintain their physique and properties such as hot hardness, compression, etc. They are silicon carbide, silicon nitride, boron carbide, boron nitride, Molybdenum disilicide and many more. Each and every ceramic has its own raw materials and it can be a polymer or other inorganic material as well. For example, silicon-based carbides use silica as a major raw material and then it undergoes carbothermal reaction to get silicon carbide. Similarly, boron undergoes carbothermal reaction to make boron carbide.
Carbon is not a ceramic but it is still considered as a ceramic once it is converted into 100% carbon by heat treatment. In this case, the raw material can be coal tar, petroleum pitch, asphalt, polymeric resins which can be crosslinked, so basically any carbon-rich material. Once heat treated over 800 deg C, a complete conversion of carbon occurs and it makes a solid and rigid and dense carbon which is very strong and withstands temperature of over 2500 deg C in the nonoxidizing environment.
Now if you talk about traditional ceramics such as earthen clay, kaolinite, Montmorillonite, chin clay, pumice, etc, etc, Their major part is silica or quartz both are same technically. Their arrangement and network structures are different.
This question in general cant be answered, I tried to cover it best that I could, I hope this helped.
