Yttrium-Stabilized Zirconia: A Mouthful at Mach Speed

(Image source: ceramics.org)

A paper published as an "Early View" article by the Journal of the American Society shows that yttrium-stablized zirconia can be sintered to full density in a matter of seconds at 850 degrees Celsius. The key is subjecting the process to a dc electrical field above the critical threshold. Traditional YSZ sintering would require hours at 1450 degrees Celsius. The paper was written by Marco Cologna, Rishi Raj and Boriana Rashkova, who are in the process of testing other materials that they hope to be able to report on to the ceramic manufacturing community soon. An article from ceramics.org covers the story. Here's an excerpt:

"The trio's technique was fairly straightforward. They made dog-biscuit shaped samples from 3 mol% nanograin YSZ. They then sintered samples in a vertical tubular furnace, applying a constant dc voltage, varying temperature and voltage. In the stages of their tests, they encountered a phenomenon I have written about before: accelerated sintering speeds at lower temperatures, dubbed field-assisted sintering or "FAST". In fact Raj, Di Yang and Hans Conrad had recently published another paper about how low (20 V/cm) dc electric dields could speed sintering and slow grain growth."

With many radical advances taking place in the field of ceramics engineering since the end of the century, it should come as no surprise that a leap-forward in sintering technology is nigh on the horizon. While the process has not been perfected yet, and the reports are only preliminary at this point, those in our industry would do well to look forward to a more detailed report coming from this team in the coming months.

To learn more about ceramics engineering, check out Refractron:

www.refractron.com

To read the article from ceramics.org, following this link:

http://ceramics.org/ceramictechtoday/materials-innovations/sintering-in-a-flash-researchers-show-its-possible-to-do-it-in-seconds-with-nanograin-ysz-heat-and-dc-electric-field/

In Honor of C. Jeffrey Brinker

(Image Source: The National Center for Design of Biomimetic Semiconductors)

At the Materials Science and Technology 2010 Conference & Exhibition, there will be a symposium organized to commemorate the work of C. Jeffrey Brinkley, who recently won the 2010 Robert B. Sosman award. According to the American Ceramic Society webpage, the Robert B. Sosman award is the highest recognition of scientific accomplishment given by the Basic Science Division and is given in recognition of outstanding achievement in basic science of an area that result in a significant impact on the field of ceramics. The awardee presents a plenary lecture at the ACerS Annual Meeting, and receives a certificate commemorating the event and a piece of glassware. The lecture is given each year by the awardee who has been deemed by the award committee to have made the most significant contribution to the field of ceramics.

According to the MS&T '10 website, "For his work, [Brinkley] is recognized around the world as a foremost expert in the field. He has contributed to our fundamental understanding of sol-gel processing, including kinetics of reactions, kinetics of growth and fractal structure of the solider clusters formed in solution, and the pore structure, surface chemistry, and densification behavior of the dried gel. The symposium will focus on sol-gel science and applications. The talks in this half-day symposium will be by invitation only and will feature recent investigations on the chemistry of sol-gel processing, fundamental behavior of hels, and recent materials developed by this technique."

So this week, the Ceramic Engineering Blog honors C. Jeffrey Brinkley for his advancements in sol-gel technology and his dedication to the field of ceramics engineering.

To learn more about ceramics engineering, check out Refractron:

www.refractron.com

To read the article regarding the MS&T '10 conference, click here:

http://matscitech.org/program/technical-program/ceramic-and-glass-materials/

And to visit the ACerS site to learn more about their awards and commendations, hit this link:

http://ceramics.org/acers-community/award-winners-resources/

Getting to Know your Magnets - The Design of Product Purity

(Image Source: Mark Weiss, thisoldhouse.com)

A recent special report from ceramicindustry.com discusses the importance of purity in a ceramics manufacturing process. It is likely that some contaminates, ferrous metals and others, may sometimes end up in a process where they have the potential to jeopardize the homogeny of a substance or damage machinery. As a result, the use of high-power magnetic separators must be employed to ensure the purity of your process. The article discusses the different types of magnets and metal detectors that can be employed and is a good read for anyone in the ceramics manufacturing industry. Here's an excerpt:

"Magnetic separators are classified as type A, B or C, in accordance with the type of magnetic circuit used. Processing lines are generally designated into the main areas (applications): primary, secondary and finishing. The size of the tramp metal to be removed determines whether a type A, B or C circuit is used. Type A is recommended for small fragments, while types B and C are recommended for larger tramp metals."

The article goes on to discuss the relationship between sensitivity and stability during the metal removal process, and explains precisely how these machines work. If you're in the ceramics manufacturing industry and you're not sure what the difference between these types of magnetic separators are, or are not sure how they work, the article is definitely a good read. In order to keep our products and processes free of unwanted contaminates, the use of metal detection and elimination is instrumental.

To learn more about ceramics engineering, visit Refractron:

www.refractron.com

To read the article from ceramicindustry.com, follow this link:

http://www.ceramicindustry.com/Articles/Feature_Article/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000892771

Growing Concerns Over Rare Earth Metals...

(Image Source: Missouri State University)

A recent article from the New York Times discusses the escalating problems that the United States and other nations of the world are having with maintaining a steady supply of rare earth metals. The article calls the situation a Chinese "hammerlock" that may sway the tides of import and export for several countries around the world for years to come. According to the article, 99 percent of two important elements: dysprosium and terbium come from China, who has recently put even tighter limits on the amount of these elements that can be exported, as China's own requirements for the elements has steadily increased over the last three years. The article explains it this way:

"In each of the last three years, China has reduced the amount of rare earths that can be exported. This year's export quotas are on track to be the smallest yet. But what is really starting to alarm Western governments and multinationals alike is the possibility that exports will be further restricted. Chinese officials will almost certainly be pressed to address the issue at a conference Thursday in Beijing. What they say could influence whether Australian regulators next week approve a deal by a Chinese company to acquire a majority stake in Australia's main rare-earth mine."

The article lists the commonly accepted price for the rare earth terbium at around 150$ pound on average. The reason that this information should alarm ceramics engineers is because we are in a constantly evolving industry. At some point, restrictions regarding materials will begin to affect us, whether it be restrictions with the number of chemicals we ourselves can export due to the global marketplace reaching a standstill or our inability to get a new element that it is discovered greatly benefits the ceramic industry. At one point, the idea of mixing diamonds with ceramic materials may have seemed silly, but today we have Diacer. It is likely that this international escalation will not stop with just terbium and dysprosium.

To learn more about ceramics engineering, visit Refractron:

www.refractron.com

And to read the article in the New York Times, follow this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/global/01minerals.html

Biomaterialization and the New Vernacular...

(Image Source: www.azom.com)

Biomaterialization is a relatively new term in the scientific community, most notably used in areas regarding the production of inorganic materials based on the emulation of organic processes. The traditionally used term of 'biomineralization' is unsatisfactory, most notably because it refers to inorganic minerals being synthesized from biological micro- and nanostructures, when in reality they are inorganic materials that are derived from the mimicry of organic nanostructure processes. Recently, scientists from the University of Stuttgart have discovered a process by which they can produce oxide ceramics by biological means. A recent article from AZO materials discusses their progress:

"The scientists imitate the natural concept of biomineralization to produce non-metallic inorganic materials under environmental conditions. Organisms produce a bioorganic template to induce and control the formation of an inorganic phase (e.g. calcium carbonate) in an aqueous solution. This natural process offers promising perspectives for the synthesis of functional materials. Unfortunately, nature produces only minerals with minor technical importance. The interdisciplinary working group of Stuttgart University under participation of institutes of the faculties for chemistry as well as for energy technology, process engineering and biological engineering is working to overcome this issue."

For those in the ceramics manufacturing industry, the new terminology and the new process will be significant. As the article says, oxide ceramics such as titania, zinc oxide and zirconia are used in photovoltaic and fuel cells, and are in high demand due to their application as a scratch-resistant coating. With our industry constantly evolving, it's important for ceramics manufacturers to pay attention to new words like 'biomaterialization', as well as be aware of what they represent. This recent breakthrough serves as a shining example of how new developments may shape not only the future of materials sciences, but how we talk about ceramics engineering.

To read more about ceramics engineering, check out Refractron:

www.refractron.com

To read the article from AZO materials, follow this link:

http://www.azom.com/news.asp?NewsID=18207

And to read more about discussion related to terminology in biomimetics, click here:

http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/367/1894/1705.full

New Stipulations From The EPA On The Horizon...

The latest article from Chemical and Engineering News discusses a new proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency, which states that chemical manufacturers may have to provide reports regarding processing, productions and purpose for using their compounds every four years instead of five. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, chemical makers must report twice yearly to the EPA in order to keep the TSCA Inventory updated. This has been the standard ever since the presidency of George W. Bush, when the EPA changed its time frame to the now recognized five year policy (Previously it was four years also). The article states:

“The proposed rule “will allow the agency to more effectively and expeditiously identify and address potential chemical risks and improve the information available to the public on chemicals most commonly used in commerce,” says Steve Owens, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety & Pollution Prevention. The agency expects to finalize the changes by mid-2011.”

In addition to these new stipulations, this proposal would also require that companies that engineer chemicals make known in advance that the data that is supplied to the EPA is confidential business information, or it could potentially be placed in the public domain. This is likely the result of the EPA administrator, Lisa P. Jackson’s recent campaign to stop unnecessary trade secret claims from some members of the chemical industry. What this means for chemical manufacturers is that it looks like it’s back to the old way of doing things, so be prepared to modify your budgets.

www.refractron.com

To read the article from Chemical and Engineering News, click here:

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/88/i33/8833news4.html

New Ceramics Wrap Themselves in Blankets of Air to Ward Off Cold

At The Ceramic Engineering Blog, we've decided to continue our run of cold-themed posts (what with the heat wave and all it just seemed appropriate) by taking a look at a story that fell through the cracks for us this year. Back in March, NewScientist Magazine ran an article regarding a new technology developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and their colleagues which allows ceramics which endure extreme temperature changes to resist fracturing when moved from a high temperature environment to a low temperature, the scientists able to get the material to maintain its strength even when cooling from near-melting point temperatures of around 3,210 degrees Celsius. The article by NewScientist explains the process:

"They did this by roughening the surface with plasma etching and concentrated nitric and hydrofluoric acids. The surface ended up covered in nanoscale fin shapes, similar to the nanoscale patterning of a lotus leaf. Like those leaves, the roughened ceramic is strongly hydrophobic, or water repellant. This is what makes the material resistant to heat shock. It traps pockets of air at its roughened surface, so when cooled suddenly by dunking in water, or if the surrounding air temperature changes, the air pockets act as an insulating layer, buffering the bulk of the ceramic from the rapid change in temperature."

This new technology could potentially lead to a change in the types of materials used for applications which require thermally resistant, high-strength materials. Processes which usually use expensive metal alloys, such as those found within car engines, could be soon replaced by for efficient and less expensive ceramic materials. This could be an exciting prospect for the ceramics manufacturing industry, and is certainly something that those of us in the industry should keep an eye on.

To read the article from NewScientist Magazine:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18685-new-ceramic-is-not-afraid-of-the-cold.html

To learn more about thermally resistant ceramics materials, check out Refractron:

http://www.refractron.com/ceramic_materials.asp

Chilling Out: Ceramic Technologies from Natural Examples

(The Wilkins Ice Shelf. Source: twilightearth.com)

Sometimes the materials science industry can take a cue from mother nature and discover something that was previously untapped, yet right in front of our faces. A few years back, a group of scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used mother-of-pearl as a model for the creation of advanced ceramic materials. Mother-of-pearl, or "Nacre", is a naturally-occurring ceramic that is mostly found as reinforcement in mollusk shells. The team at Berkeley devised a way to emulate the structure of Nacre using the process of water freezing as a guide. An article from Chemical and Engineering News describes their process:

"The researchers knew that when saltwater freezes, it can form tiny plates of ice. Impurities in the water are squeezed out as the plates form and become trapped in the spaces between them. [The group at Berkeley] exploits this behavior using concentrated suspensions of ceramic particles in water. As the water freezes, it pushes the ceramic particles into the layers between the ice plates. The rate of freezing determines the thickness of the resulting ceramic layers, which can range from 1 to 200 µm."

The ice is then removed by the process of freeze-drying, leaving a ceramic scaffold behind with ice plate-shaped pores. After stabilization, the pores can be filled with a secondary compound (examples in the article include epoxy and aluminum alloy, but there are several options). John Halloran, a materials scientist at the University of Michigan described the results of the project as displaying "remarkably improved mechanical properties" compared to standard ceramics developed from today's processes. This discovery has several applications, including the possibility of devising bone substitutes that are four times stronger than the current industry standard.

To read the full article from Chemical and Engineering News, follow the link:

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/84/i05/8405notw3.html

To learn more about porous ceramics applications, check out Refractron:

http://www.refractron.com/porous_ceramics.asp

The BBC Projects Big Things for North American Ceramics Market

(Image courtesy of BBC Research)

BBC has released a new technical market research report which suggests that by 2014, the North American high-performance ceramic coatings market will be worth an estimated $2 billion dollars, up from $1.4 billion in 2009. An article on the report from AZO Materials divides the market into segments, and then gives a rundown of how each segment is performing, along with an estimate on how these segments will continue to grow over the next three and a half years. The largest segment was identified as thermal spray coatings, which was worth an estimated $953 million in 2009, but is expected to reach $1.4 billion by 2014 (to put that into perspective, that is the entire market value of all segments in 2009). Of the second-largest segment, AZO had this to say:

"The second-largest segment, chemical vapor deposition, is estimated at $183 million in 2009, down from $213 million in 2008. It is expected, however, to increase by a 5-year CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 3.8% to reach nearly $221 million in 2014. The physical vapor deposition segment (for comparison) is projected to have a 5-year CAGR of 7.4%, rising from $187 million in 2009 to nearly $267 million in 2014.

What this illustrates is that even segments of the market that were previously failing are picking up steam and should begin and continue to grow over the next five years. So, why the sudden boom in the ceramics manufacturing industry? New developments in materials science (Including innovations like DiaCer, see previous posts) and the invention of new processes with which to develop them have been emerging from the woodwork over the last few years. High-performance ceramic coatings is one of the few industries today that has been able to use innovation to overcome an otherwise bleak economical environment. Over the next three and a half years, those in the ceramics and materials science field can expect a lot of opportunities for continued growth and expansion.

To read the article from BBS, follow this link:

http://www.bccresearch.com/report/AVM015E.html

To read AZO Materials' take on it, click this one:

http://www.azom.com/news.asp?NewsID=21258

China Begins New Export Restrictions on Rare Earth Deposits

(Graphic courtesy of "Rare Earth Elements--Critical Resources for High Technology," Gordon B. Haxel et al., U.S. Geological Survey, November 2002)

If you're in the ceramics manufacturing industry (and if you're not, I wonder what you come to this blog for, hopefully for my charming writing style) then you are aware that rare earth metals are instrumental in many advanced materials processes. Businessweek has recently predicted in an article that a resource dispute between China and the United States may be fast approaching. As is depicted by the graph above, in recent years China has been climbing the rankings of the nations with the most rare earth elements, and now that they are on par with and surpassing the United States, they have a very large bargaining chip when it comes to these deposits of rare elements.

China has opted to cut export quotas by 72 percent in the second half of 2010. This means that it's likely that the US will have a shortage of rare earth elements in the coming months, which could be potentially disastrous to our industry, and possibly the world economy as a whole. What this means for local ceramics manufacturers is that they'll need to modify their budgets to accommodate the extra prices on importation of these rare elements. According to an article on these new developments by Ceramic Tech Today "China's Ministry of Commerce says shipments for the second half of 2010 will be limited to 7,976 metric tons, less than half of the amount shipped in the first half of the year (16,304 metric tons)."

With all of the recent technological developments in ceramics and materials science, this news could not have come at a worse time. With the United States' economy not in tip-top shape and effecting the rest of the world, the limited resources of each country are becoming more and more important to global markets. The dispute that might occur could have far-reaching consequences throughout the entire world, and ceramics manufacturers everywhere should begin to consider re-estimating their costs and estimated production values.

Materials Science Schools Make BusinessWeek's Best Bargains List...

The Georgia Tech (which made number 2 in the list of twenty-five) logo featuring their mascot, Buzz

There's a lot of buzz (pun intended) regarding materials science schools as they relate to the amount a student invests into his or her higher education career versus what they get out of it after education. When highschool students are looking at where they want to go to begin their college career, one of the most influential statistics can be how big of a bargain the school is. No one wants to put a bunch of money into their education only to find out that their chosen field doesn't have the big pay-out they were expecting. For this reason, going to school for materials science may be one of the wisest investments a freshman in college can make.

An article from The American Ceramic Society sums up the information from the original BusinessWeek article as follows:

"The source data come from PayScale, a salary comparison and benchmarking service. Using this information, BusinessWeek calculated a 30-year net return on investment for more than 500 colleges and universities. According to the publication, these schools "boast a 30-year net return on investment that ranges from about $600,000 to more than $1.1 million, an improvement of 56 percent to 187 percent over the average for the entire sample. All of them sport decent graduation rates, too - in most cases, well above the 58 percent average."

With a potential overall return of more than a million dollars over the course of thirty years, it is evident that materials science is an industry that is rapidly growing. If you have a student looking to go into a science or engineering field, but they're not entirely certain what they want to do with their lives, you should probably mention the large amounts of money that people in the field are currently making. If you yourself are considering going back to school, or going for the first time, there is a lot to be said for the materials sciences, most notably the big payout.

To read the original BusinessWeek article, click the link:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/06/0628_payscale2/index.htm

To learn more about the interesting world of Materials Science, check out Refractron:

www.refractron.com

iPad Apps for Materials Scientists

(Image courtesy of apple.com)

A recent article in the AZo Journal of Materials Online by Ian Birkby, cleverly titled "Don't Worry, Be App'y" suggests several iPad and iPhone Apps for Materials manufacturers that can assist them in their daily activities. While several of the apps that made the list can be really useful in the ceramics engineering field, many that Ian lists offer little or no assistance except for in incredibly rare scenarios. This article will separate the wheat from the chaff as far as these engineering apps go. The first app plugged is of course Azo's own materials app, which allows the user to find suppliers and equipment and stay on top of the latest materials news. Molecules and Periodic Lite are aimed toward the chemistry aspects of the materials design field, the former allowing the user to look at complex molecule strands in 3D while being able to rotate them at the touch of a finger, with the latter being a periodic table program which gives detailed information on every element.

Some of the apps suggested, like ConvertBot and the Scientific Calculator app are used primarily for the math aspect of the design process, being able to convert units of measurement and do complex mathematics. However, these apps can be useful to anyone in any engineering field. The other apps listed seem like they are merely filler, some of those suggested are later lampooned in the same article for being non-functional. Of the Metal Detector app, Ian writes:

"Well, let's start with the positives, the graphics certainly make it look like a metal detector and it really sounds like one, giving off that excellent 'Ive found a field full or roman coins" squawk, but, the metallic content of my forehead and the office carpet appeared to be quite high, so I'm sorry to say that you're going to need something a little more sophisticated to work out if you've an 18/8 stainless on the shelf."

The rest of the apps listed: Ceracoat, findNano, Skeptical Science and iAugment either have nothing to do with engineering, or are apps developed for related sciences that (it seems) were just added to the list for the sake of length. While there are about five apps listed in this article that could certainly help a materials engineer, almost half of them are totally irrelevant to the field. If you read the Azo journal and are interested in getting some of the apps they recommend, be careful that you're not paying for something that you will really never use.

To read the article discussed, click the link:

http://www.azom.com/blog_post.asp?BlogID=105

Ceramics and Space: Keeping You Safe, Hundreds of Thousands of Miles From Home

A recent article for Materials Views by Martin Grolms discusses recent developments in ceramics technologies as it relates to thermal protection for space vehicles. While we have discussed the importance of ceramics in manned space exploration in previous posts, the material is becoming so essential to man's presence outside of our atmosphere that we believe it warrants a dedicated post. As pointed out in the article, some components of space vehicles may reach temperatures in excess of 2000 degrees Celsius, meaning that in order to keep our astronauts and their equipment safe, the highest durability of ceramics must be used:

The main concern in the design of ceramic laminates deals with the risk of decreasing the oxidation resistance. At the Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy, the effect on the oxidation behavior of porous and composite layers is investigated. To this purpose the microstructure and the main mechanical properties of different kinds of multilayer SiC (Silicon Carbide) are compared before and after oxidation.

The results of microscopy and several other exhaustive tests showed the presence of large pores in the composite laminate microstructure, which was not present in multilayer SiC. These pores greatly affect the mechanical behavior of components that are protected by a TPS (Thermal Protection System), which can mean the difference between the life and death of an astronaut or the loss of a multi-billion piece of technology. For these reasons it is evident why ceramics are so instrumental in our exploration of space.

To read the full article and learn more about the applications of ceramics in manned space exploration, follow the link!

http://www.materialsviews.com/details/news/691453/Thermal_Protection_for_Space_Vehicles.html

Diamonds + Ceramics = One of the Most Advanced Substances on Earth

We've discussed this topic earlier, but now that confirmation is in and prizes are being

awarded, we've decided to fill in some of the details we left out last time. In Germany, a group of scientists have successfully combined the hardest substance known to man with high-tech ceramics to create a new material that is highly durable as well as having a relatively low value of friction. The project coordinator at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST in Braunschweig, Dr. Lothar Schafer said that by using this recently developed process, they can apply a diamond layer of up to a half-square meter in size. Schafer was quoted as saying, "There's nothing else like it in the world. Ultimately, DiaCer is of interest for all components in machine construction that need strong resistance to wear."

DiaCer is one of the most advanced substances ever created by modern man, and its applications seem to extend to all levels of industry. Though the development and implementation of this new substance is still in its relative infancy, its designers have already been commended for their discovery with the Stifterverband Award for Science, which is awarded for scientific excellence in applied research projects carried out jointly by Fraunhofer Institutes and business enterprises and/or other research organizations.

The future could be very bright in the field of ceramics manufacturing. Currently, the heat shields on American space shuttles are made of highly advanced ceramics. Manufacturers who get on the ground floor with DiaCer might find themselves making new, advanced barriers for the next generation of manned space vehicles. If diamonds truly are forever, then DiaCer is easily the future of ceramics manufacturing.

To read more about this discovery, visit:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Material-Combines-Diamonds-and-Ceramics-142465.shtml

New Zirconia Crowns May Replace The Metal Standard in Dentistry...

Recent developments in dental science suggest that the metal that oral surgeons have relied upon for decades for their crowns may be on the way out the door. A recent study sponsored by Noritake Dental Supply, Limited in Japan tested the durability of porcelain-fused-to-Zirconia (PFZ) versus the industry standard, porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM). Durability tests were conducted from 2 months to 57 months and involved over two thousand patients and 22 dentists.

The study showed that after the mean survival time for posterior crowns (52 months), the probability for a PFZ crown to remain intact was 98.1%, where as the survival rate was only 95.8% for PFM crowns. This may not seem like a major difference, but ceramics manufacturers who specialize in Zirconia might see a boon to their businesses in the coming years as the Dental industry decides whether or not it will migrate to this new technology or stay with the PFM crowns that have served the profession for years.

The 22 practitioners were able to replicate these findings in different environments across three continents, and the results were the same regardless of oral location, whether molar or premolar. A total of 2,635 premolar and molar crowns were tested, and with the exception of the 1.9% of the PFZ crowns that failed, the results were almost unanimous: While the difference in the survival rate seems negligible, porcelain-fused-to-Zirconia crowns were superior to porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns. As medical technology continues to evolve, the demand for high-durability ceramics will continue to grow. Opportunities for expansion are on the horizon.

Diamonds Are An... Engineer's Best Friend?

Zirconia is a common tool in the ceramic engineer's toolbox, but have you ever heard of using diamonds? That's just what some researches are trying to use. Engineers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST in Braunschweig, Germany have created a material they've dubbed 'DiaCer,' which looks to offer superior wear-resistance and a low coefficient of friction.

Combining technical ceramics with diamonds makes sense since diamonds are incredibly hard, conduct heat well, and are mostly inert to chemical substances. By combining them with ceramics, there results an unsurpassed material resistant to heat, wear, corrosion, and chemicals. Researchers have found that adding a diamond coating to a ceramic pump extends the part's durability by a factor of 4 to 1,000. After being used to create several tons of wire, the test parts were barely worn at all.

Dr. Lothar Schäfer of the Fraunhofer Institute is confident. He's said,

“Using our process, we can apply a diamond layer of up to a half square meter in size. There‘s nothing else like it in the world. Ultimately, DiaCer is of interest for all components in machine construction that need strong resistance to wear."

The iPhone 4 To Use Advanced Ceramics?

It's looking more and more like there will be an update to Apple's venerable iPhone product. There are now scads of photos of the new phone--whether it's still in prototype stage or not is debatable--and it definitely looks different, as you can see from the photo above. Many tech pundits have pointed to a 2006 Apple patent filing,

A portable computing device capable of wireless communications, the portable computing device comprising: an enclosure that surrounds and protects the internal operational components of the portable computing device, the enclosure including a structural wall formed from a ceramic material that permits wireless communications through.

which indicates the company is at least looking at using a zirconia ceramic material for the backing. This move makes a lot of sense, since it a ceramic material can, of course, be made to be extremely strong and heat-resistant. And its structural nature allows for it to be much more conducive to being a phone body component than metal, which can interfere with radio waves.

It could be another high-profile coup for the technical ceramics industry if the great minds at Apple chose to use zirconia ceramics in its flagship device. I guess we can only wait and see!

Some Good Signs for the Ceramics Industry

There is some good economic news for the ceramics industry. News out of the United Arab Emirates says that the world' largest ceramic tile manufacturer, RAK Ceramics, is reporting a more than 20% increase in its net profits for 2009.

In a recent shareholder meeting, the company said that 2009 was a banner year for it, despite the slumping economy. In fact, its annual revenue topped, for the first time, $1 billion (USD). RAK Ceramics sold more than 100.7 million square meters of ceramic tiles in 2009. It exports ceramic products to more than 150 countries.

Hopefully this is just one of many economic developments that signals a turnaround in the global economy--and especially the global ceramic economy.

Ceramics Firms Feeling Credit Crunch For Fuel?

The economic downturn--while reversing somewhat--is still hitting industries across the globe. Demand for technical ceramics has waned as industries are looking to cut costs and put off facilities upgrades. And even in the non-technical ceramics industry, the global recession is wreaking havoc.

There was a telling story in the Birmingham Post (UK) about rising fuel prices exerting a unique downward force on the local ceramics economy thereby putting pressure on jobs.

Ceramics firms have a huge demand for gas to fire their products, which coupled with the fact that the industry was last year hit hard by the recession, has left nervous energy companies seeking to cover their backs by demanding upfront payments.

Stoke-on-Trent-based Wade Ceramics, which has just invested £7.5 million in a new plant, said his gas supplier had insisted last year on three months’ worth of payments up front – but the firm had managed to find a way around it by organising a letter of credit.

Because of the fuel-intensive process behind industrial ceramics manufacturing, the ceramics industry is under massive pressure to cover steep costs. In many cases, fuel providers demand large up-front payments, which are prohibitive for ceramics companies' cashflows. In other cases, fuel providers will supply to ceramics companies without an upfront payment, but then they will demand a higher rate.

There is an obvious vicious circle in these sorts of situation: Without more revenue, ceramics manufacturers cannot pay for fuel, and without fuel, ceramics manufacturers cannot increase revenue. Hopefully, as the economy turns around, this cash and credit crunch will begin to subside. Until then, we'll have to rely on efficient processes and solid business sense.

Science Floats Glass To Gain New Insight

Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, TN are hoping to gain a greater insight into the nature of glass using a new $1.65 million Neutron Electrostatic Levitation Chamber (NESL). Using the NESL, scientists are hoping to float liquids and study them, unmixed with the environment, in order to understand glass. It sounds somewhat trite, but this is actually a really interesting experiment. Glass is not so much a product or item as it is a state of being--it's a part of the solid, gas, liquid set. Team leader and physicist Kenneth Kelton explains,

We've used glasses since 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, but we still don’t understand the process – how it goes from a liquid to a glass. It's one of the most interesting dynamical processes anywhere around. If we look at the difference in structure from a liquid to a glass, we can see a difference, but it's very subtle. The question is, What's different?

In order to figure out what makes glass different from liquid, Kelton and his team are going to float liquid forms of several materials, such as titanium, zirconium, nickel, platinum and their alloys. Hopefully in time, we will see some solid results from the study!

General Electric to compete with Bloom Energy?

General Electric (GE), perhaps jealous of all the buzz surrounding the Bloom Box, has recently patented a "core-shell ceramic particulate" and its manufacturing process. What this means, basically, is that GE now has a patented method to prepare a sort of yttria-stabilized zirconia that can be used in a solid oxide fuel cell, which is what the Bloom Box is comprised of.

These yttria-stabilized zirconia are a sort of porous ceramic. Porous ceramics are of scientific and technological interest because of their ability to interact with atoms, ions, and molecules not only at the solid surfaces, but also throughout the bulk of the material. They have a greater surface area than similarly-sized solids. Porosity, by virtue of implying a larger surface area, gives a material an advantage in processes like ion exchange, adsorption, sensing, and catalysis. ration, catalysis, detection, and sensor applications. Porous ceramics also have the advantages of ceramic material. Ceramics have great thermal and chemical stability, solid erosion resistance, and high pressure stability.

This GE patent could mean nothing, or it could mean that the industrial giant is going to throw its full weight behind Bloom Box-like technology. After all, during the now famous 60 Minutes profile of the Bloom Box, Green Tech Media's Michael Kanellos appeared and said that there's a 20% chance we'll have a fuel cell box in our basements within ten years, but "it's going to say 'GE.'" Again, our takeaway is is that solid oxide fuel cell technology is great news for the planet, and great news for technical ceramics manufacturers.

Technical Ceramics in the Bloom Box?

We recently wrote about piezoelectric ceramics in energy harvesting applications, but technical ceramics are being used in an even more exciting (to some) energy application: the Bloom Box. Hailed as a "power plant in a box," the Bloom Box, from Bloom Energy, is basically a refrigerator-sized box that houses a group of fuel cells, which use oxygen, fuel, and heat to create electricity with virtually no emissions. The Bloom Box was invented by K.R. Sridhar, CEO of Bloom Energy. It was originally envisioned as a device to manufacture oxygen on Mars; when the manned Mars trip was scrapped by NASA, Sridhar refocused his efforts, resulting in the Bloom Box (technically the Bloom Energy Server).

So how do technical ceramics play a role in the Bloom Energy Server? Well, it is comprised of solid oxide fuel cells, and the fuel cells are made from technical ceramics. Each Bloom Energy server uses thin white ceramic plates, which are made from sintered modified zirconia. These plates, which are known as ceramic fast ion conductor plates, are then coated with a green ink or a black ink in order to create the anode and cathode portions of the fuel cell. The third part of the fuel cell, the electrolyte, is speculated to be comprised of yttria-stabilized zirconia. Technical ceramics play a huge role in the Bloom Energy Server!

Why is the Bloom Energy Server so ballyhooed? About twenty well-known companies--including Google, FedEx, Walmart, Staples, and eBay--have already integrated it into their power chain. About nine months ago, eBay installed five Bloom Boxes at its San Jose, CA campus; the company has claimed energy-related savings of more than $100,000 in that period. There are concerns over the technology, still. The technology is prohibitively expensive: Each unit costs between $700,000 and $800,000. Sridhar has said he wants to get get costs down to about $2,000 per unit--eventually. They may also have problems providing around-the-clock, 24/7 use. The technology, however, is still in a relatively early stage. The fact that it's out in the real world, offering real world energy savings, is a pretty spectacular notion. If the Bloom Box can scale down to consumer and third world applications, it may well promote and offer new avenues of growth for the technical ceramics industry along the way.

Piezo Electric Energy Harving

A recent report from Frost & Sullivan, a corporate consultancy and research firm, suggests that the rising cost and growing waste production from heavy battery use may lead to a more widespread push for energy harvesting technologies. Energy harvesting is the practice of harnessing ambient, renewable energy sources in order to generate power, such as electricity. Some common forms of energy harvesting include harvesting solar energy through photovoltaic cells (solar panels).

Now, a technical ceramics company in the UK is working with Glyndwr University in Wales to create an energy harvesting system. The 26 week Shorter Knowledge Partnership (sKTP)'s goal is to create a working demonstration unit that uses piezoelectric ceramics to develop more energy efficient energy harvesters. They hope to use piezoelectric materials as a means to improve the rather poor efficiency of existing energy harvesting technology. For instance, solar power generally operates at a 12% efficiency. It would be quite a coup for the ceramics industry if it could enter heavily into the energy harvesting field.

Leadership Rice Envision Grant Recipient Brings Ceramic Water Filters to Nicaragua

Rice University has recently awarded its Leadership Rice Envision Grants. Each grant provides the recipient with up to $2,500 to carry out a project that will enrich a community in some way. Thirteen students applied and six were selected. Applicants were accepted based on how well they lived up to the grant's four Es: Envision, Engage, Execute, and Embed.

Baker College senior Matt Wesley received an Envision Grant to fund a trip to Nicaragua during the winter break. Nicaraguans face outrageous sickness and mortality rates due to E. Coli-contaminated rivers. A lack of sanitation means that much of the Nicaraguans' water becomes contaminated by human and animal waste. Wesley used his Envision Grant to bring sixty ceramic water filters to the country distributing them to Nicaraguans in need. He hopes to provide more than 1,100 water filters eventually. The filters consist of a ceramic material that is connected to a 30L container, which provides a family with enough water for one day. The filter is made with ceramic and sawdust. As the ceramic is fired, the sawdust burns away, which creates porosity in the filter.

Technical Ceramics: What Makes The Large Hadron Collider Go Round

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be resuming operations later this month, according to the New York Times. With its recommencement, the world's largest science experiment will be underway, again--but at half power. The LHC is huge: Its circumference is over 17 miles, and its concrete-lined tunnels have a width of 12 feet.

Some of the less-hyped aspects of the LHC are the individual components comprising it, which include technical ceramic components like its vacuum chambers. The vacuum chambers are made of ceramic because metal would interfere with the magnetic fields that drive the LHC. The function of the vacuum chambers is to keep the accelerated protons from hitting air molecules, which would alter their speed or position. As protons are fed into the vacuum chambers, they very quickly reach speeds up to 299,792 km/second.

The deployment of technical ceramics in the Large Hadron Collider is just another unexpectedly great application for ceramics technology. With a strength and durability as good or better than metal, but with its own unique properties, ceramics are a great solution for many difficult or challenging scenarios.

Finding Inspiration for Technical Ceramics in the Unlikeliest Places (Eg, the floor of the Indian Ocean)

Structural ceramics have many uses--water filtration, shielding, armor--and they're created and engineered by some of the biggest brains in the world. However, sometimes mother nature can teach us that there's more under the sun than the innovations of man. Scientists at UC Berkeley have discovered that a snail called the scaly-foot gastropod, known for over a decade as inhabiting a hydrothermal vent field in the Indian Ocean, sports a shell that is amazingly resistant to extreme temperature, pressure, acidity, and physical impact. Sounds a lot like advanced technical ceramics, right?

Robert Ritchie, a scientist at UC Berkeley, says,

"If you look at the individual properties of the bits and pieces that go into making this shell, they’re not very impressive, but the overall thing is.”

Scientists at MIT concluded by using nanoscale experiments and computer simulations that the snail's shell uses "mechanical property amplification," an attribute that allows for the shell to be hundreds of times harder than the sum of its parts. The gastropod's shell is thicker than most other species', and it uses iron sulfide in its material composition. Scientists' larger goal, of course, is to leverage the natural ingenuity of the scaly-foot gastropod's shell into practical applications: armor, helmets, heat shields, corrosive containment. Ritchie believes it will be a while until marketable products are made using the lessons learned from the snail, but his lab is already working on creating a ceramic material based on its properties. For more information, check out this Wired article about this durable little deep-sea snail.

Green Water Filtration System Fit For a Museum

Manual Desrochers, a Montreal-based designer, has created this eye-catching (to say the least!) ceramic water filtration unit. It's crafted from porcelain and hand-blown glass. It's called the Ovopur.

As we've seen before, the egg-shape is popular with ceramic water filtration designers. The Ovopur uses a four-stage filtration system, running wa ter through reusable glass filters that are composed of activated carbon, a zinc/copper alloy, quartz, and porous ceramic beads. Its reservoir holds up to 11 liters (2.9 gallons), and it takes between 20 and 30 minutes to filter water completely. To read more about the Ovopur, visit Aquaovo.

How to select a ceramic water filter?

We write pretty frequently about technical and industrial ceramics, especially ceramic water filters. But do you have a good idea of how to select a water filter for yourself? REI has a great guide to selecting the right water filter for your personal needs, and it also includes some good information about ceramic water filters.

Ceramic: This is an effective, high-quality earthen material that can be cleaned many times before it needs a replacement. A ceramic cartridge captures most particles within .005 of an inch of its surface, so it's easy to brush away clogged pores and expose new ones. Cartridges themselves are fragile and require careful handling. Ceramic elements are the longest-lasting mediums and make a good choice for frequent backcountry visitors.

We shop at REI all the time (we're not sponsored or reimbursed by the company in any way) and love it. They have a great selection of outdoor/camping gear. And they're always helpful, so their publishing this guide is no big surprise. Check out the full guide for some good advice for water filters.