The history and typical achievements in the development of glass-ceramics are reviewed on the basis of the engineering principles of crystallization in glass and its application. Bulk and surface crystallization phenomena and their practical applications are described as well as the forming process of glass-ceramics. In addition to conventional glass-ceramic materials and processes, novel potentialities of glass-ceramics in next-generation devices are also indicated. Luminous glass-ceramics for high-power lighting and display systems, and electrode materials for rechargeable batteries are emphasized. Recent developments on the position-selective laser crystallization of the glass surface and a glass-ceramic with anomalous thermal expansion are also introduced.
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