The advantages of ceramic knives can be viewed [here].
Ceramic knives are intended to complement, not replace metal knives: Metal knives should be the tool of choice for carving, cutting boned meat, cutting frozen foods, cutting hard cheeses etc. Ceramic blades are very hard, but are not flexible. If improperly used, ceramic knives may chip or break. Ceramic knives are intended to cut fresh fruits, vegetables, boneless meats, and much more. The primary difference is the material the blade is made out of. The blade is the most important part of the knife, therefore making ceramic and metal knives quite different.
A ceramic blade is a blade made out of very hard ceramic, zirconium oxide (ZrO2; also known as zirconia). These blades are produced by compacting zirconia powder under around 300 tons of pressure to produce blade-shaped blanks. These blanks are very brittle and fragile and can be shattered by a slight blow. Like most ceramics these are consolidated into a dense and strong ceramic by solid-state sintering for 5-12 hours in a high-temperature furnace: approximately 1400 degrees Celsius. The result is a very hard and blunt blade which is then sharpened by grinding the edges with a diamond-dust-coated grinding wheel.
Zirconia is very hard; it ranks 8.5 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, compared to 6 to 6.5 for hardened steel, and 10 for diamond, giving a very hard edge that rarely needs sharpening. Ceramic blades can only be resharpened with a material harder than themselves for which diamond sharpeners are used.
Ceramic knives will not rust. They are also non-conductive and nonmagnetic. Their chemical inertness to both acids and alkalis and their ability to retain a cutting edge far longer than forged metal knives makes them a very good culinary tool for slicing and cutting through boneless meat, vegetables and fruits. Since they are brittle they cannot be used for chopping, cutting bones or frozen foods or for any application which tends to twist the blade such as prying which may cause the cutting edge to chip. The tips of these knives are resistant to rolling and pitting, but may chip if dropped.
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