Patent Development Trend and Technological Evolution of Advanced Ceramic Materials

Advanced ceramic materials are widely used in aerospace, energy systems, electronics, and biomedical engineering due to their excellent thermal stability, mechanical properties, and multifunctional characteristics. Their performance is highly dependent on fabrication processes such as forming, sintering, surface engineering, and precursor synthesis. Therefore, process engineering plays a crucial role in driving innovation in ceramic materials. From a process perspective, understanding the evolutionary patterns of ceramic manufacturing technologies is of great significance for improving material performance and promoting advanced manufacturing development. This study conducts a patent analysis of advanced ceramic materials based on the IncoPat global patent database. Bibliometric and data mining methods are employed, including IPC classification analysis, patent trend analysis, and technology clustering analysis, with a focus on revealing process-oriented technological evolution characteristics. The results show that related patents are mainly distributed across IPC classes C04B, C03C, B82Y, H01L, and A61L, corresponding to structural ceramics, glass ceramics, nano-ceramics, electronic ceramics, and biomedical ceramics, respectively. From a process perspective, technological innovations are mainly concentrated in advanced sintering technologies such as spark plasma sintering and microwave sintering, forming methods including additive manufacturing and conventional pressing, surface engineering techniques, and sol-gel as well as polymer-derived precursor routes. Overall, a clear transition is observed from traditional powder-based processing toward integrated, low-temperature, and multifunctional manufacturing processes. In conclusion, this study provides a patent-based perspective from process engineering, revealing the technological evolution of advanced ceramic materials and highlighting the critical role of process innovation in enhancing material performance and advancing manufacturing technologies.