Glass-ceramic

**Glass-ceramics** are engineered polycrystalline materials created by controlled crystallization of base glass through carefully regulated heat treatment[1][7][10]. They possess a combination of properties from both glasses (such as transparency, electrical insulation, shapeability) and ceramics (such as high mechanical strength, toughness, high hardness, chemical durability, and thermal stability)[1][4][7]. These materials contain an amorphous phase and one or more fine, regularly arranged crystalline phases, with crystallinity typically between 30% and 90%[1][5][7]. The microstructural control results in tailored properties including zero or low porosity, tailored or low thermal expansion, biocompatibility, and, in some cases, bioactivity for medical or dental applications[1][5][9]. Glass-ceramics are widely used in fields such as biomedical implants, dental prosthetics, cookware, and electronics due to their versatile physical and chemical properties[1][5][9][4]. **Clarification:** Glass-ceramic is a class of material, not a molecule, protein, or receptor, nor is it a biological or therapeutic target as per typical pharmaceutical or biomedical contexts. Therefore, it is **incorrect** to use it as a drug target or receptor, and there are no known drugs, molecular mechanisms, biomarkers, or disease roles in the sense meant for receptor or protein targets. Its main biomedical uses are structural (e.g., dental or orthopedic implants) and occasionally as a scaffold in tissue engineering[5][6][9].

Other names

Glass ceramicsCrystallized glass