Ceramics are inorganic non-metallic solids made up of oxides, nitrides, borides, or carbides that produce smoke at high temperatures.
Prior to burning, ceramics can be glazed to provide a smooth, frequently coloured surface that lowers porosity.
Reasons for ceramics are very hard:
Ceramics are manufactured by heating them to extremely high temperatures and then cooling them quickly.
Because of the rapid quenching, they do not have enough time to form appropriate bonds, and those that do form become quite hard as a result of the rapid processing.
This is an important aspect that contributes to the hardness and brittleness of ceramics.