The ceramic technique (or ceramic engineering) is the discipline that studies the production of artifacts made from ceramic materials (which are particular inorganic non-metallic materials). Ceramic materials can be crystalline or semi crystalline, with a long-range order on the atomic scale. Glass ceramic can have an amorphous or glassy structure, with limited or short-range atomic order. They are formed by a molten mass that solidifies by cooling, formed and matured through the action of heat, or by chemical synthesis at low temperature, using for example the solgel technique. Since ceramics are heat resistant, they can be used for many tasks for which materials such as metal and polymers are not suitable.