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.