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AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY
emerging ceramics & glass technology
MArch 2015
Case study —
Applying lateral thinking to process
development and optimization of
specialty kiln furniture
Trends in ceramic engineering education •
Stuff Matters book review •
Ceramics Expo coming to Cleveland •
Florida meeting highlights •
contents
March 2015 • Vol. 94 No. 2
feature articles
Letter to the editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Refractories—Engineered, high-performance ‘silent partners’ . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Eileen De Guire
Refractory technology—often hidden from view—advances materials science, and has done so for
8,000 years.
Case study—Applying lateral thinking to process development
and optimization of specialty kiln furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Roel van Loo
A German company manufactures tall, large-area saggars for a severe firing application by
adapting an undersized press and pulling a vacuum.
Current state and future opportunities for ceramic education
in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Steve Freiman and Lynnette D. Madsen
The Interagency Coordinating Committee on Ceramic Research and Development outlines
challenges and opportunities for the future of ceramic education.
cover story
Case study—Applying lateral
thinking to process development
and optimization of specialty
kiln furniture
Credit: iStock
– page 28
Book review: Stuff Matters: Exploring the marvelous materials
that shape our man-made world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
April Gocha
Author Mark Miodownik writes an entertaining account of the importance of materials by connecting stuff to its recognizable place in the world.
meetings
Ceramics Expo 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
GOMD-DGG 2015: Glass & Optical Materials Division Annual Meeting and
Deutsche Glastechnische Gesellschaft Annual Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
11th CMCEE: International Conference on Ceramic Materials and
Components for Energy and Environmental Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Meeting highlights: 39th Int’l Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics
and Composites, and ACerS Electronic Materials and Applications 2015 . . . 46
Deciphering the Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Elise Poerschke
For science’s sake: My selfie with Bill Nye
Credit: Steve Jacobs; Union College
(NSF Award No. 1206631)
departments
News & Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
resources
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
Current state and future
opportunities for ceramic education
in the United States
– page 34
columns
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Ceramics in Energy . . . . . . . . . 13
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1
contents
AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY
bulletin
March 2015 • Vol. 94 No. 2
Editorial and Production
Eileen De Guire, Editor
ph: 614-794-5828 fx: 614-794-5815
[email protected]
April Gocha, Associate Editor
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Russell Jordan, Contributing Editor
Tess Speakman, Graphic Designer
Editorial Advisory Board
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Fei Peng, Clemson University
Rafael Salomão, University of São Paulo
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American Ceramic Society Bulletin covers news and activities of the Society and its members, includes items of interest to the ceramics community, and provides the most current information concerning all aspects of ceramic
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ACSBA7, Vol. 94, No. 2, pp 1–56. All feature articles are covered in Current Contents.
2
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
letter to the editor
Huge opportunity beckons
As a young chemical engineer, I was very excited about the conversion of reactants under the appropriate environment—perhaps
with the use of a catalyst—into useful products. Such reactions are usually written A + B ➞ C. As an older, and hopefully wiser,
materials scientist/engineer, I tend to look at how this simple equation might be applied to more global issues.
A case in point is energy generation and use in the United States. In a recent issue of American Ceramic Society Bulletin (Vol. 93,
No. 5, p. 5), the “News & Trends” section featured a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory flowchart. It shows all sources of
energy production and their end use in 2013. I had seen similar charts before. However, in this case, one figure impressed me:
Of the approximately 97.4 Quads of energy produced, 59.0 Quads—more than 60%—were rejected, mostly as waste heat! The
electricity generation and transportation sectors had exceedingly large fractions of rejected energy, each more than 60%.
The same issue of the Bulletin featured articles about thermionics and other devices that could transform waste heat into electricity. Thus, I would like to suggest a simple new equation: rejected energy + conversion devices ➞ energy savings. Converting just
1%–10% of rejected energy into electricity would generate 0.6 to 5.9 Quads—a significant amount of energy.
This concept creates a huge challenge for the ceramic community, which includes universities, manufacturers, and the government. We need to move forward with prototype devices that can be tested in the field for electricity generation and transportation sectors noted above. We should not wait for low-cost or more efficient devices to come along. They will in time. As John
Deutch of MIT strongly pointed out, the enemy of good is best. The time is ripe for a major commitment. Are we, as a ceramic
community, up for the challenge?
Sincerely,
David Stahl, Ph.D. (F-ACerS)
(Stahl is retired from Areva and several postretirement positions.—Ed.)
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American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
3
news & trends
During a trip to China late last
year, President Barack Obama met
with Chinese President Xi Jinping to
discuss numerous issues, including
climate change.
China, the world’s top carbon dioxide
emitter, relies heavily on fossil fuels and
produces almost a third of all global carbon emissions, or 7.2 tons per person.
For comparison, the entire European
Union accounts for about 10% and the
United States for 16%.
But there are signs that China is making steps toward a more permanent pollution solution.
The two leaders emerged from their
November talks to announce that both
countries were committing to reaching
“ambitious” climate pollution targets—
with the U.S. set to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions to 26%–28% less than
2005 levels by 2025 and China pledging to increase its use of zero-emission
sources to 20% by 2030. China also
agreed—for the first time—to limit its
carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 as
Credit: The Official White House Tumblr; CC BY 3.0 US
Aggressive climate pollution
plan part of China’s
‘energy revolution’
President Barack Obama discusses his climate pollution targets during talks with Chinese
President Xi Jinping.
part of a broader plan to address issues
of economics and air pollution, a call Xi
has referred to as an “energy revolution.”
Obama declared the climate change
announcement “a major milestone in
the U.S.–China relationship. It shows
what’s possible when we work together
on an urgent global challenge.”
New research from the Academy of
Finland and the Chinese Academy of
Business news
CoorsTek finalizes acquisition of Covalent
Materials Corporation (coorstek.com)…
Trulite acquires AGC’s US fabrication
assets (trulite.com)…Andres Lopez
named president of glass containers and
COO of O-I (o-i.com)…Linde, Sandia
partnership looks to expand hydrogen
fueling network (linde.com)…AFRL
equipped for White House Materials
Genome Initiative plan (afrl.af.mil)…
NSG’s Pilkington loses challenge to
$445M EU cartel fine (pilkington.com)…
Alcoa buying Tital to help expand aerospace unit (alcoa.com)…MC Industrial
to construct Boeing composite facility
4
expansion (mcindustrial.com)…Corning
to acquire TR Manufacturing (corning.
com)…RAK Ceramics to exit Sudan business, boost UAE capacity (rakceramics.
com)…Futura Ceramics invests $2M in
new kiln (futuraceramics.com)…PPG
Industries to provide Gulfstream windows, assemblies (ppg.com)…Purdue,
GE to collaborate on advanced manufacturing (ge.com)…Imerys Ceramics
announces price increase for ball clay and
kaolin products (imerys.com)…Oxane
Materials’ ceramic proppant plant closes
(oxanematerials.com) n
Social Sciences shows that although
China may be serious about its efforts
to mitigate climate change, it demands
more energy than ever before.
According to Jari Kaivo-oja, research
director of the Finland Futures Research
Centre, “From a global perspective, we’re
seeing that China is channeling investments into renewable energy. While the
growth in renewable energy capacity has
been fast, the demand for energy has
grown even faster, forcing China to further increase its coal power capacity.”
China’s growing economy, in part,
means more coal, and more coal means
more emissions. Improvements in manufacturing and policy will not be enough,
Kaivo-oja says, to curb the increased
demand resulting from a continued shift
in consumer preferences and “rapid rise in
affluence”—or to meet those 2030 targets.
“Our research shows that the ongoing structural change visible in the
Chinese economy will curb the growth
in carbon emissions by only 25% in
comparison to the current economy,
which is largely dependent on heavy
industry,” he says. “At present, the
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
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with water, the high energy input
is effectively used for the grinding
process without overheating the
sample. Due to the special grinding jar geometry, the sample is thoroughly mixed which results in a narrow particle size distribution.
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news & trends
plans for the development of the country’s energy system won’t help China
cap its emissions by 2030.”
Whether or not China can meet its
emission reduction goals, the country
will have plenty of opportunities to at
least attempt to reach the admittedly
aggressive targets.
“China is a country still in the midst
of a wave of urbanization,” says Kaivooja. “The infrastructure solutions in new
urban areas and the consumer habits of
a developing and increasingly well-to-do
middle class are two issues that can significantly influence future developments.
China has made huge investments in sustainable cities and in sustainable development exercises, which are all very positive
signals from the viewpoint of sustainable
energy and climate policy.” n
Glass cockpit aboard NASA’s
Orion spacecraft sets course for
future space travel
NASA’s Orion spacecraft recently
completed its first unmanned space journey. Although the trip lasted only four
and a half hours while completing two
earth orbits, it was an important mile-
stone for eventually delivering humans
far into deep space—whether to an asteroid, Mars, or elsewhere.
Regardless of where it will go, NASA
decked out Orion with the latest technology. The spacecraft resembles the
iconic cone-shaped Apollo craft, but carries new and improved technology.
Orion, when ready for its human passengers, will be equipped with a glass
cockpit control system, according to
NASA. The system consists of panels of
screens for controlling the craft, rather
than the former extensive array of knobs,
buttons, and levers.
Efforts like the Materials
Genome Initiative and Advanced
Manufacturing Technology Consortia
program have been part of the plan to
get advanced materials and technologies from lab to market more quickly.
Now, advanced manufacturing and
advanced composites stand to be lighter,
faster, and stronger more quickly, thanks
to an infusion of cash and commitments
from government and investors.
The White House recently
announced a new $259-million public–private partnership in the creation of the Department of Energy’s
Institute for Advanced Composites
Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI),
which will be led by and headquartered at the University of Tennessee.
According to a DOE press release,
IACMI “will focus on making
advanced composites less expensive
and less energy-intensive to manufacture, while also making the composites
easier to recycle.”
The institute represents commitments from its partners ($189 million) and the DOE ($70 million),
which together form a consortium of
122 manufacturers, universities, and
national labs.
“This has brought together unprec-
6
Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Advanced composites receive
$259-million investment to cut
time from concept to prototype
Projects like Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s 3-D printed car prove that advanced
composites have the power to change U.S. manufacturing.
edented commitment from state
governments, industries, and research
institutions to develop the workforce,
create jobs, and increase global manufacturing competitiveness in advanced
polymer composites,” IACMI CEO
Craig Blue says in a UT news release.
One of those manufacturers is
Local Motors, who—together with Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, Cincinnati
Incorporated, and the Association for
Manufacturing Technology—built the
world’s first 3-D printed car.
Using the same Big Area Additive
Manufacturing machine that helped
print Local Motors’ Strati, a six-person
ORNL team has taken its own 3-D
printed offering—a “‘plug-n-play’ laboratory on wheels” that pays homage to
the classic Shelby Cobra design—from
concept to car in just six weeks. The
ORNL car, made of 20% carbonfiber material, will “allow research
and development of integrated components to be tested and enhanced
in real time, improving the use of
sustainable, digital manufacturing
solutions in the automotive industry,”
according to ORNL.
It also demonstrates, says the
DOE, the type of collaborative work
that will accelerate the process from
concept to prototype and boost
American manufacturing. n
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Some manual controls will be present,
but the glass cockpit design eliminates
the vast majority. The glass cockpit
reduces weight by removing wires and
switches and provides flexibility to the
cockpit and control panel.
On reentry to earth, the craft will
hurtle back through the atmosphere at
24,545 mph. Orion’s elaborate thermal protection system, fabricated by
Lockheed Martin, protects it from
blistering temperatures that may reach
up to 6,000°F. The entire base of the
craft is covered in a composite heat
shield wrapped in an ablative material
called Avcoat—deposited in 320,000
cells in a fiberglass-phenolic honeycomb
skin—that is designed to burn off to prevent heat build-up.
In addition, the craft’s backshell is
covered in 970 high-tech black AETB-8
tiles. “Made of a low-density, high-purity
silica fiber made rigid by ceramic bonding, the tiles will be called upon to
protect the sides of Orion from temperatures up to 3,150°F (1,732°C) on this
test,” NASA says.
Although the recent test flight did not
reach speeds and temperatures as high
as the craft will experience during a longer mission, the test was an important
step in evaluating the system. Lockheed
Martin engineers are currently sampling
the heat shield to assess how it held up
during its inaugural space foray.
The module—once in space—will be
powered completely by UltraFlex solar
arrays, the collected energy of which can
be stored in rechargeable lithium-ion
batteries. The two arrays on board consist of accordion-style-folded solar panels,
each about 19-ft wide, that are made of
high-efficiency, heat- and radiation-resistant gallium arsenide solar cells. Each
panel can provide 6,000 W of power,
“enough to power about six three-bedroom homes,” NASA says. n
Credit: ReelNASA; YouTube
Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will
(eventually) control space travel through
the craft’s glass cockpit.
Customized Sankey diagrams visually highlight
Customized Sankey diagrams visually highlight
heat inputs and losses in dryers and kilns.
heat inputs and losses in dryers and kilns.
Experts
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
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7
acers spotlight
Society and Division news
St. Louis Section/RCD Annual Symposium: March 24–26
ACerS St. Louis Section and the
Refractory Ceramics Division (RCD)
will hold their 51st annual symposium, March 25–26. “Refractories as
Engineered Ceramics” is the theme for
this year’s meeting at the Hilton St.
Louis Airport Hotel in St. Louis, Mo.
A kickoff event and a meeting of the
ASTM International C-8 Committee on
Refractories will be held on March 24.
Organizers for the event include Mike
Alexander, Riverside Refractories, and
Matthew Lambert, Allied Mineral Products.
A discounted block of rooms ($104 per
single/double per night) has been reserved
at the Hilton. When booking your accommodations, please refer to Group Code
SAC. All reservations must be received
before the March 2 deadline.
For more information, contact Patty
Smith at 573-341-6265 or [email protected].
Tabletop Expo
Exhibitors include Almatis, AluChem,
Alteo-Alumina, The American Ceramic
Society, BassTech International,
Calucem, Inc., China Mineral
Procurement LLC, Christy Minerals,
Cilas Particle Size, DIFK GmbH,
Germany, Elkem Silicon Materials,
Great Lake Minerals, IMERYS
Refractory Minerals, Kercher Industries,
Kerneos, Inc., Kyanite Mining Corp.,
LAEIS GmbH, Orton Ceramic
Foundation, Possehl Erzkontor N.A.,
RED Industrial Products, Refractory
Minerals, TAM Ceramics, Washington
Mills and ZIRCAR Ceramics Inc.
Planje Award
The 2015 Theodore
J. Planje–St. Louis
Refractories Award will
be presented to Victor
C. Pandolfelli, Federal
Pandolfelli
University of São Carlos,
Brazil. An ACerS Fellow and member
of the Refractory Division, Pandolfelli is
full professor in the university's materials
engineering department and coordinates
the Alcoa Laboratory located there.
Allen Award
The 2014 Alfred W. Allen Award
winners Eric Sako, Mariana Braulio,
and Pandolfelli, all with the Federal
University of São Carlos, Brazil, and
Enno Zinngrebe and Sieger van der Laan,
with the Ceramics Research Centre, The
Netherlands, will present their paper
“In-depth microstructural evolution analyses of cement-bonded spinel refractory
castables: Novel insights regarding spinel
and CA6 formation.” The paper was
published in the Journal of the American
Ceramic Society, 95 [5] 1732–40 (2012).
What's new in ancient glass research?
Explore glass's past and present during
this one-day workshop hosted by ACerS
Art, Archaeology, and Conservation
Science Division in conjunction with
the American Institute for Conservation.
Register before April 10 to save.
Visit ceramics.org to secure your spot.
May 17, 2015 | 8:30 a.m. – 5:20 p.m.
Hyatt Regency Miami
Schedule at-a-glance
March 24, 2015
5 p.m.
Take me out to the Ballpark Village St. Louis
March 25, 2015
7:15 a.m. Registration and coffee
8 a.m.
Welcome and introductions
St. Louis Section Chair
Roger Smith, Bucher Emhart Glass
Refractory Ceramics Division Chair
Ben Markel, Resco Products
Program Coordinators
Mike Alexander, Riverside Refractories
Matthew Lambert, Allied Mineral Products
8:15 a.m. Morning technical sessions
• New forefront measuring techniques for
characterizing engineered refractories
• Thoughts on additive manufacturing for
refractory application abstract
• A potential shortcut to quantitative mineralogy
• Physical properties of a refractory
castable with various alumina aggregates
• Carbon-bonded refractory composites
• Tailoring composite properties through
engineered ceramics
11:45 a.m. Luncheon banquet
1 p.m. Afternoon sessions
Presentation of the T.J. Planje St. Louis
Refractories Award to Victor C. Pandolfelli,
Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil
• Castables for industrial applications—
Still room for improvement
• Novel deflocculation system for silica- fume-containing castables with enhanced robustness to raw-material variations
• Micro-gel-bonded castables—A bond with potentials
• ACerS President’s Council of Student
Advisors (PCSA): Annual report of
student activities
4:45 p.m. RCD annual members meeting
5 p.m. Closing remarks
5 p.m. Exposition and cocktail hour
7 p.m. Dinner buffet
Speaker: Marcus Fish, ACerS
Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation
March 26, 2015
6:30 a.m. Refractory Ceramics Division
breakfast meeting
8 a.m.
Morning technical sessions
• 2014 Alfred W. Allen Award winners:
In-depth microstructural evolution analy ses of cement-bonded spinel refractory
castables: Novel insights regarding
spinel and CA6 formation
• Protecting metallic anchors and vessel
from alkali corrosion by innovative
refractory paints
• Maximize energy savings by selecting
the right insulating firebricks
• Improvement of refractory castables with
an innovative calcium aluminate
binder system
• An alternative advanced alumina for
advanced refractory ceramics
12 p.m. Questions and discussion
12:30 p.m. St. Louis Section officer business meeting
and lunch
Credit: Vlasta2; Flickr; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
8
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Electronics Division awards top
papers, posters winners at EMA’15
For members-only discounts, including savings of up to
34% on shipping, join now at ceramics.org
Congratulations to the winners of the
best student oral presentations and best
student posters during the 2015 ACerS
Electronic Materials and Applications
meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Best Student Oral Presentations
• First place: Christina Rost, North
Carolina State University, “Entropy
driven oxides: Configurationally
disordered solid solutions and their
structure-property”
• Second place: Edward Sachet,
North Carolina State University,
“Extreme electron mobility in
cadmium oxide through defect
equilibrium engineering”
• Third place: Jon Mackey, University
of Akron, “Analytic thermoelectric
couple modeling: Variable material
properties and transient operation”
Credit: 401K 2012; Flickr; CC BY-SA 2.0
ACerS members save more.
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MINERAL PORTFOLIO
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Best Student Posters
• First place: Gye Hyun Kim,
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, “Effect of surface energy
anisotropy on Rayleigh-like solid-state
dewetting and nanowire stability”
• Second place: Youngho Jin,
Georgia Institute of Technology,
“Microstructure and electrical
properties in PMMA/ATO conductive composites with phasesegregated microstructures”
• Third place: Jun-Young Cho, Seoul
National University, “The effect of
nanostructure on the thermoelectric
properties of bulk copper selenide”
In memoriam
Neil O'Brien
John F. Rainear
Donald C. Schell
Some detailed obituaries also can be
found on the ACerS website,
www.ceramics.org/in-memoriam.
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
www.imerys-refractoryminerals.com
9
acers spotlight
Students and outreach
Scholarship and award
opportunities for students
Refractories scholarship
Deadline: March 13, 2015
The Refractories Institute will once
again award a limited number of
$5,000 college scholarships to highachieving students who are pursuing
an undergraduate or advanced degree
in ceramic engineering, material science, or similar discipline in North
America. For more information, visit
www.refractoriesinstitute.org.
GEMS Awards
Deadline: March 16, 2015
Sponsored by ACerS Basic Science
Division, the annual Graduate
Excellence in Materials Science
(GEMS) Awards recognize the outstanding achievements of up to 10
graduate students in materials science and engineering. The award is
open to all graduate students who are
making an oral presentation in any
symposium or session at MS&T’15.
Tie makes for a nailbiter of a competition at ICACC’15
Congratulations to the winners of the ICACC’15 shot glass competition, sponsored by Schott. The team of Bert
Conings, Hasselt University, Belgium; Danny Vanpoucke, Ghent University, Belgium; and Chenxin Jin, Dalhousie
University, Canada, tied with Stephen Sehr, University of California, Santa Barbara (pictured above, from left)
for top honors. For more photos from the competition and the meeting, visit www.bit.ly/acersflickr.
2015 Future City Competition showcases engineers of tomorrow
The Future City Competition is a
national program sponsored by the
engineering community to promote
interest in technology and engineering in middle-school students through
hands-on, real-world applications.
ACerS took part in the Ohio
Region competition on Saturday,
January 17, at Columbus State Community College’s Center for Workforce
Development, in Columbus.
ACerS members and volunteer judges Dana Goski, Allied Mineral Products,
Derek Miller, Ohio State University, and Dave Lankard, Lankard Materials Lab,
helped determine the winner for Best Use of Ceramics.
First place was awarded to a team from Heritage Middle School (pictured above
with judges), Westerville, Ohio, and honorable mention was awarded to Lakewood
Middle School, Hebron, Ohio.
Du-Co Ceramics Scholarship
Deadline: April 1, 2015
See details on page 11.
Alfred R. Cooper Scholars Award
Deadline: May 15, 2015
See details on page 11.
Lewis C. Hoffman Scholarship
Deadline: May 15, 2015
See details on page 11.
10
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Awards and recognition
Deadlines for upcoming nominations
April 1, 2015
Du-Co Ceramics Scholarship Award
This $3,000 scholarship is awarded to an undergraduate student pursing a degree in ceramics or materials science.
Du-Co Ceramics Young Professional Award
This $1,500 honorarium is awarded to a young professional
member of ACerS who demonstrates exceptional leadership
and service to ACerS.
May 15, 2015
Glass and Optical Materials Division’s Alfred R. Cooper Scholars Award
This $500 award encourages and recognizes undergraduate
students who have demonstrated excellence in research,
engineering, or study in glass science or technology.
May 15, 2015 (cont.)
Electronics Division’s Edward C. Henry Award
This award is given annually to an outstanding paper reporting original work in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society
or the Bulletin during the previous calendar year on a subject
related to electronic ceramics.
Electronics Division’s Lewis C. Hoffman Scholarship
The purpose of this $2,000 tuition award is to encourage
academic interest and excellence among undergraduate
students in the area of ceramics/materials science and
engineering. The 2015 essay topic is "Electroceramics for
telecommunications."
Additional information and nomination forms for these awards can be found at ceramics.org/awards, or by contacting Marcia
Stout at [email protected].
Will your idea be the
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American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
11
ACerS around the world
Ceramics down under: A report from CAMS2014
The Australian Ceramic Society and
Materials Australia held the third biennial
conference of the Combined Australian
Materials Societies (CAMS2014) at
the Charles Perkins Centre at Sydney
University last November. Nearly 300
papers and posters were presented at the
combined conference.
Plenary speakers included Zi-Kui
Liu, professor of materials science
and engineering at the University
of Pennsylvania and winner of The
American Ceramic Society’s Spriggs
Phase Equilibria Award; Zhiwei Shan,
director of Hysitron Applied Research
Centre, China (HARCC) and deputy
dean, School of Materials Science and
Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University;
and Peter Hodgson, ARC Laureate
Fellow and director, Institute for
Frontier Materials, Deakin University.
Roughly 40% of the presentations
were ceramics-related, focusing on
concrete and cement (including geopolymers), photocatalysis and sunlight
harvesting, piezo- and ferroelectric materials, and nuclear fuels and wasteforms.
Planning already has begun for
CAMS2016, and is expected to take
place in the Melbourne area in late 2016.
First ICG Winter School in Shenzhen, China brings together global glass research community
This past December, 32 students from
academia and industry gathered with
13 lecturers at Shenzhen University
(China) for the first four-day International
Commission on Glass Winter School for
Research Students in Glass Science, sponsored by the Chinese Ceramic Society.
The teaching staff included the core team
that runs the ICG Montpellier Summer
School each year (Klaus Bange, Reinhard
Conradt, Bernard Hehlen, John Parker,
Akira Takada, and Rene Vacher) as
well as lecturers from local universities.
The aim of the program—coordinated
in part by Peng Shou, president of the
International Commission on Glass, and
event host Jianrong Qiu—was to stimulate
cross-fertilization between the two ICG
Schools and create a model for future
success. For more information, visit www.
icglass.org.
Bowman honored by
Australian Ceramic Society
The Australian
Ceramic Society
presented Richard
Bowman with its 2014
biennial award for his
research contributions
to the global ceramicBowman
tile industry.
Bowman, who heads the consulting company Intertile Research, is a
former principal research scientist
at CSIRO and has done extensive
research in characterizing tile, understanding tile system behavior, developing new slip-resistant paradigms,
and improving environmental basis for
falls prevention.
Bowman is a member of ACerS
Whitewares Division.
International Journal of
Applied Glass Science
marks fifth year of publication
Congratulations to the editors, authors,
reviewers, and editorial staff of the
International Journal of Applied Glass Science,
who in December 2014 celebrated the
journal’s fifth year of publication.
Coedited by L. David Pye and Mario
Affatigato, IJAGS, which ranks 5th of 26 in
impact ratings in the category of ceramics
and glass, has published more than 200
articles, including special issues on glass
and photonics, corrosion of glass, glass and
nanotechnology, and glass armor.
Another special issue on glass and light
is slated for September 2015.
For more member news, visit www.ceramics.org/knowledge-center/acers-blog.
12
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
ceramics in energy
clear flat-panel displays and ultrathin
HDTVs. They also could find a home
in the displays of more mobile digital
devices.
“Because of their increased electron
mobility, compounds like IGZO can
provide brighter displays with higher
resolution,” says John Wager of OSU’s
School of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science.
They also help to improve the energy
efficiency of devices. Because IGZO
transistors use less standby power, they
do not need to be charged as often—
meaning that phones that require
weekly, not daily, charging could be a
real possibility, say researchers.
“Amorphous oxide semiconductor
implementation appears on the verge of
exploding,” Wager says. “If the current
trend continues, in the next five years
most people will likely own some device
with these materials in them. This is a
breathtaking pace.” n
Credit: Oregon State University
Imagine a world in which you could
incorporate any type of consumer electronic device—digital calendars, computer displays, GPS systems, and roomdarkening shades—into any type of glass
surface (think mirrors, windows, and
windshields). That world is just within
reach, thanks to the work of researchers
at Oregon State University.
In 2002, an OSU team developed
“transparent” transistors that it hoped
would “shake up the field of consumer
electronics.” Now—more than a decade
later—those amorphous oxide semiconductor materials are poised to make
a splash not just for their transparency but also for their clear ability to
improve current electronics offerings
on the market.
According to an OSU news release,
the “first and most important of the
semiconductors”—based on indium
gallium zinc oxide (IGZO)—are being
incorporated into extra-crisp and
John Wager shows off a transparent semiconductor.
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
Credit: Fan Lab; Stanford
See-through semiconductors set to ‘shake up’ consumer
electronics industry
A new mirror material reflects incoming
sunlight and banishes infrared radiation
into space to keep buildings cool.
Multilayered oxide mirror heats
up space to help cool buildings
Stanford University researchers have
developed a new material that they hope
will someday heat up space and cool
down rooftops.
The multilayered material—which
the scientists describe as a “one-two
punch”—works by reflecting visible and
infrared light away from buildings and
into space.
The cooling strategy may someday
make buildings much more energy efficient by reducing unwanted heat and,
thus, decreasing energy needs. Those
energy needs are staggering: Cooling
requirements were estimated a couple of
years ago to total 1 trillion kW∙h/year, a
significant fraction of the approximately
144 trillion kW∙h/year of total worldwide energy use (as estimated in 2008).
The Stanford scientists think their new
material may be able to ease that energy
consumption and cost, through a process
they call photonic radiative cooling.
That material, just 1.8-μm thick, is
composed of seven layers of silicon dioxide and halfnium oxide overlaid onto a
thin silver film. “These layers are not a
uniform thickness, but are instead engi-
13
ceramics in energy
neered to create a new material,” according to a Stanford press release.
The material’s structure is devised to
radiate infrared light at a particular frequency that pushes that energy directly
into space, rather than warming the air
around the building. It uses space as a
heat sink, rather than allowing that heat
to be absorbed into the atmosphere.
“Think about it like having a window
into space,” lead researcher and electrical engineering professor Shanhui Fan
says in the release.
But that is not all—the material also
functions as a mirror, reflecting up to
97% of sunlight.
“Together, the radiation and reflection make the photonic radiative cooler
nearly 9 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than
the surrounding air during the day,” the
release states.
The paper, published in Nature, is
“Passive radiative cooling below ambient air temperature under direct sunlight” (DOI: 10.1038/nature13883). n
Building stronger, taller towers of clean energy with high-strength
concrete technology
Credit: Bob Elbert; Iowa State University
If Iowa State University researchers have their way, towering wind turbines are about to get stronger and taller—thanks
to high-strength concrete technology and a $1-million investment from the Department of Energy.
Iowa State’s Sri Sritharan is researching a high-strength
concrete technology that has the potential to revolutionize
wind energy.
14
The DOE awarded the Iowa State team, lead by civil,
construction, and environmental engineering professor
Sri Sritharan, an 18-month grant to improve the team’s
Hexcrete concept developed during earlier work on reinforcing the concrete towers.
According to an Iowa State news release, Hexcrete
“uses precast and easily transportable components to build
hexagon-shaped towers from concrete panels connected to
concrete columns.”
“I think this will revolutionize wind energy,” says
Sritharan, who also heads the university’s Wind Energy
Initiative. “We won’t need to transport these big tubular
towers on the highways and we’ll harvest energy where it’s
needed.”
Sritharan says that the concrete-for-steel substitution
would provide additional benefits, including allowing towers taller than steel’s 80-m limit. Winds at 100 m elevations
and higher are faster and steadier.
Concrete towers also reduce production time, expand
wind energy’s geographic footprint, and cut costs. Concrete
towers can produce wind energy at a lower cost, and specifically reduce the costs associated with transporting the
towers.
During testing last year, the full-size segments and connections successfully handled the load the taller towers would
require—even under “extreme conditions.”
The additional monies will fund further research into the
manufacturing process needed to create these taller concrete
towers, which Sritharan believes could greatly impact not just
the energy industry, but the entire U.S. economy.
According to his project summary, “If used for the entire
height, the Hexcrete concept will eliminate transportation
challenges and engage a well-established U.S.-based precast
concrete industry in the wind tower business, thereby greatly reducing reliance on foreign steel and increasing the job
market in the U.S.” n
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Easy to Choose.
Easy to Use.
Simultaneous Thermal Analysis
Electric cars powered by supercapacitor-packed body
panels could become roadway reality within five years
Although not nearly as energy dense
as lithium-ion batteries, these supercapacitors have advanced acceleration
capabilities and would provide an additional and quicker boost than what is
capable with conventional batteries,
say researchers.
“Supercapacitors are presently combined with standard lithium-ion batteries
to power electric cars, with a substantial
weight reduction and increase in performance,” says QUT postdoc research
fellow Jinzhang Liu. “In the future,
it is hoped the supercapacitor will be
developed to store more energy than
a lithium-ion battery, while retaining
the ability to release its energy up to 10
times faster—meaning the car could be
entirely powered by the supercapacitors
in its body panels.”
Liu reports that one full charge could
create enough power to propel the car up
to 500 km, which he says is in line with
the power of conventional cars, or double what an electric vehicle can provide.
The electrodes, made from exfoliated
Credit: Queensland University of Technology
A team at Queensland University
of Technology and Rice University
has developed a high-capacity film
thin enough to place in panels, roofs,
doors, and floors of automobiles. The
super strong electrolyte–electrode
sandwich also can provide enough
power to recharge an electric vehicle
battery in minutes.
According to a QUT release, the
work, published in the Journal of Power
Sources and Nanotechnology, means that
supercapacitor-powered cars could
become a roadway reality before 2020.
“Vehicles need an extra energy spurt
for acceleration, and this is where supercapacitors come in. They hold a limited
amount of charge, but they are able to
deliver it very quickly, making them the
perfect complement to mass-storage batteries,” says QUT’s Marco Notarianni.
“Supercapacitors offer a high-power output
in a short time, meaning a faster acceleration rate of the car and a charging time of
just a few minutes, compared with several
hours for a standard electric car battery.”
Nunzio Motta is part of a team that is developing a thin, yet strong, supercapacitor film
that can be placed in the panels of a car door.
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
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graphene films mixed with carbon nanotube clusters, are costeffective, so the price of this power is relatively low. According
to Nunzio Motta, professor at QUT, it also is a more earthfriendly way to provide high-power density.
“The price of lithium-ion batteries cannot decrease a lot
because the price of lithium remains high,” he says. “This technique does not rely on metals and other toxic materials either,
so it is environmentally friendly if it needs to be disposed of.”
Although these lightweight, yet high-strength, capacitors
could dramatically impact the auto industry, researchers say
that they also could find a home in other battery-powered
devices—devices where a quick charge would be desirable and
in demand—such as a faster-charging smartphone.
The papers are “High-performance all-carbon thin-film
supercapacitors” (DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.10.104) and
“Graphene-based supercapacitor with carbon nanotube film
as highly efficient current collector” (DOI: 10.1088/09574484/25/43/435405). n
Bifunctional, self-tinting smart window doubles
as rechargeable battery
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University have
developed a self-tinting smart window that brightens and darkens on its own and without an external power source.
This smart window doubles as a recharageble battery,
requires no electricity, and can store enough energy to power
low-power electronics, such as LEDs. Cool blue in daylight and
clear at night, the tint-shifting window also reduces light pen-
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Credit: Nanyang Technological University
ceramics in energy
A team of researchers from Nanyang Technological University,
led by Sun Xiaowei (center), have developed a self-tinting
smart window.
etration by close to 50%.
The work of the NTU team, led by Sun Xiaowei, professor at the university’s School of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, is published in Nature Communications.
“Our new smart electrochromic window is bifunctional; it is
also a transparent battery,” says Sun in an NTU news release.
“It charges up and turns blue when there is oxygen present in
the electrolyte—in other words, it breathes.”
To create their bifunctional battery–window, Sun and colleagues placed liquid electrolyte between two indium tin oxidecoated sheets of glass connected by electrical cables. On one of
the two sheets, they added Prussian blue, and to the other, a
strip of aluminum foil.
According to the release, “When the electrical circuit
between them is broken, a chemical reaction starts between
Prussian blue and the dissolved oxygen in the electrolyte,
turning the glass blue. To turn off the blue tint, the electrical
circuit is closed to discharge the battery, turning the Prussian
blue into a colorless Prussian white.”
Because it is energy independent and adjusts on its own,
Sun and team believe that their smart window could provide
“significant” cooling and lighting savings for homeowners and
businesses.
“Our technology is very attractive as a zero-sum consumption smart window,” says Sun. “Buildings owners and even
common households can reap energy savings right from the
outset and over the long term. Developers who are looking at
constructing environmentally friendly green buildings will find
our technology attractive for their building plans.”
The paper is “A bi-functional device for self-powered electrochromic window and self-rechargeable transparent battery
applications,” (DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5921). n
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
ceramics in the
environment
Stronger, greener cement-like material curbs
carbon emissions through diffusion
Accidents happen—as do “whoops” that become “eurekas.”
One such whoops-to-wow moment occurred in the lab of former
University of Arizona Ph.D. student David Stone.
That accident was Ferrock—an eco-friendly substitute for Portland cement that, according to a Tech Launch Arizona article, is
“significantly stronger.”
The manufacture of Portland cement accounts for 5% of total
global carbon emissions. Although more of it is being recycled
(some 140 million tons of concrete are recycled each year in the
United States, according to the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association), that does not stop researchers from seeking ways
to make the material more green.
Ferrock is being developed in collaboration with Tech Launch
Arizona. The “cement-like” material is “environmentally superior,
sustainable, and stronger than conventional cement,” according to
a Tech Launch article.
It also is carbon negative. Rather than releasing carbon, the
material traps carbon, diffusing and absorbing the element into
itself. The iron in Ferrock mixes with carbon, creating iron carbonate and becoming part of the material’s makeup.
“It has taken years to get just a basic understanding of the
chemistry involved,” says Stone in the article. “But this shouldn’t
be surprising since scientists are still trying to figure out Portland
cement and they’ve had 200 years. I am into this for the long
haul. Time is on our side since, in this era of global warming,
unsustainable processes like cement manufacture will have to give
way to greener alternatives.”
Stone, in collaboration with Tech Launch, licensed the technology from the University of Arizona and will commercialize the
invention with startup company Iron Shell LLC.
“The formation of Iron Shell promises to be very exciting,” says
Tech Launch Arizona’s Doug Hockstad. “The technology stands to
impact the world in a variety of ways, including both reduction of
carbon dioxide production and sequestration of other carbon dioxide production as well as recycling of waste products, such as steel
waste and, in some cases, recycled glass. For all that, this represents
an amazing engineering achievement that has the potential to create
a great, positive impact on the environment.” n
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American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
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ceramics in the environment
Greener de-icers and smarter snowplows could equal less bucks for state budgets
Although roadway salt shortages have
resulted in 10%–30% price increases
for the commodity this winter, the cost
of not using road salt is even higher,
according to the Salt Institute. Following
a one-day snowstorm, state economies
can experience up to $700 million in
losses from impassable roads.
To combat the cost of road salt—as
well as its impact on the environment—one Washington State University researcher is busy cooking up
greener ice-melting materials that use
fewer chemicals.
Xianming Shi’s studies in “road
ecology” at the university’s Center for
Environmentally Sustainable Transportation in Cold Climates—the nation’s
only center devoted to the impacts of
environmentally friendly snow and
ice control on our roads, wildlife, and
streams—have shown that combatting
winter requires a great deal of “highly
technical” science.
His smart snowplow comes with
sensors that enable plows to use less
salt. “Ordinary snowplows have at
least one sensor to measure pavement
temperature,” Shi says in a WSU
release. “Smart snowplows not only
read temperature but also residual salt
from previous applications, the presence of ice, and the amount of friction on the road. All of these readings
help operators apply less salt. In the
past, it was all done visually. By the
time you can see salt on the road, it’s
way too much and is going into the
vegetation and groundwater.”
In addition, his Maintenance Decision Support System, open-source software funded by the Federal Highway
Administration, provides insight about
road and weather conditions, salt supplies, and suggested application rates.
Shi also is at work improving beet
and tomato juice de-icers, which are less
corrosive but not as effective as their
chemical counterparts, and on a de-icerresistant concrete made with nanometer- and micrometer-sized particles that,
according to the release, “doesn’t break
down as quickly in the presence of salt
and chemicals, thereby extending the
life of roads and sidewalks.” Both have
the potential to further assist government in making winter roadways safer
and greener.
“To their credit, state and county
agencies are doing a very difficult balancing act,” says Shi. “They have to
look at safety first and sustainability
second. On top of that, they have budget constraints. So I think research is
crucial to help them out.” n
Credit: Jillian C. York; Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Floating project uses recycled
concrete and 3-D printing for
sustainable housing
State budgets could benefit from smarter snowplows that require less salt use.
18
Sweden already is known as one of
the most eco-friendly countries in the
world, and its eco-conscious inhabitants
continue to stay ahead of the curve. An
experimental studio of Swiss architectural
firm Belatchew Arkitekter, called Belatchew Labs, has unveiled a new project that
envisions floating housing complexes that
are sustainable, save land, and provide living space to young adults.
Called SwimCity, the project proposes to use recycled concrete to reduce
the often-heavy carbon footprint of construction. Combined with 3-D printed
techniques to fashion the structures,
SwimCity is not just sustainable, but
cost effective and efficient to build, too.
SwimCity proposes building with recycled concrete crushed into 40% coarse
and 25% fine aggregates, combined
with 10% recycled cement—from fly ash,
dross, and microsilica—and 15% water.
The recycled concrete would be
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Credit: Belatchew Arkitekter
An aerial view of the SwimCity project—a floating housing
development that incorporates recycled concrete and 3-D
printing for sustainable construction and living.
3-D-printed into the desired structures to maintain the project’s efficiency and sustainability. Because the housing would
float on water, those structures’ possibilities are almost endless. The press release depicts simple hillside-encased structures
floating on the water in snowflake-arranged designs, but those
are just one possible configuration.
“The technological development in 3-D-printed concrete
has come very far. With SwimCity we show how the new
technology makes it possible for us to create unique buildings which today’s prefab industry is not capable of,” Rahel
Belatchew Lerdell, CEO and founder of Belatchew Arkitekter,
says in a SwimCity press release.
In addition to sustainable materials and building techniques, the project’s aqueous location also is a nod to its
eco-consciousness.
“Besides that water is an unused building ground, it is also
a potential energy source that can be used for energy in various ways, such as wave power and water–water heat pumps,”
according to the release.
Energy systems based on buoys connected to linear generators are estimated to be able to deliver 24 TW∙h each year
from the Baltic Sea’s waves, according to Belatchew. n
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19
research briefs
Ancient concrete structures, such as
the Pantheon and Coliseum in Rome,
stand strong and tall despite a couple
thousand years of wear. Moreover,
Roman concrete’s strength and durability is much more environmentally friendly than the ubiquitous Portland cement
used today.
Portland cement production requires
heating a limestone–clay mixture to
1,450°C, which releases a lot of carbon
in the process—enough to account for
7% of global carbon emissions.
Roman construction instead used
large chunks of rock (45%–55% by
volume) bound together by a mortar
composed of 85% by volume volcanic
ash mixed with water and lime, a formulation that requires much lower production temperatures and, thus, lower
carbon emissions.
A previous study led by University of
California, Berkeley, volcanologist and
scientist Marie Jackson already found
that Roman concrete’s binder contains
aluminum and has less silicon in comparison with the calcium, silicate, and
hydrate mixtures of modern concrete
binders. That aluminum content, in the
form of aluminum tobermorite, a rare
hydrothermal mineral, bestowed the
old concrete with higher stiffness, the
researchers thought.
A new study led by Jackson confirms
that unique aluminum-containing crystals that form in Roman concrete are
behind the material’s robust strength
and durability. The results, published in
the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, are particularly interesting to
efforts to make modern concrete more
durable and more sustainable.
“If we can find ways to incorporate
a substantial volumetric component of
volcanic rock in the production of specialty concretes, we could greatly reduce
the carbon emissions associated with
their production and also improve their
durability and mechanical resistance
20
Credit: Roy Kaltschmidt; Berkeley Lab
Unique crystals prevent crack
propagation, make ancient
Roman concrete strong
Ancient Roman concrete consists of coarse chunks of volcanic tuff and brick bound
together by a volcanic ash-lime mortar that resists microcracking, a key to its longevity and endurance.
over time,” Jackson says in a Lawrence
Berkeley National Lab press release.
To get a better look into concrete’s
structure, the team examined its mortar
using synchrotron X-rays.
The scientists used Berkeley Lab’s
synchrotron, the Advanced Light Source,
beamline 12.3.2 to X-ray 0.3-mm-thick
slices of Roman mortar. “We obtained
X-ray diffractograms for many different points within a given cementitious
microstructure,” Jackson says in the
release. “This enabled us to detect
changes in mineral assemblages that gave
precise indications of chemical processes
active over very small areas.”
The team put together analyses of
a reproduction and an actual sample
of the ancient concrete, in an effort to
understand what was happening within
the concrete. “Through observing the
mineralogical changes that took place in
the curing of the mortar over a period
of 180 days and comparing the results to
1,900-year-old samples of the original, the
team discovered that a crystalline binding
hydrate prevents microcracks from propa-
gating,” according to the release.
During curing, Roman concrete’s calcium-aluminum-silicate-hydrate binder got
stronger and tougher thanks to the growth
of platy strätlingite crystals in between the
volcanic material and the mortar.
“The mortar resists microcracking
through in-situ crystallization of platy
strätlingite, a durable calcium aluminosilicate mineral that reinforces interfacial
zones and the cementitious matrix,”
Jackson says in the release. “The dense
intergrowths of the platy crystals obstruct
crack propagation and preserve cohesion at the micron scale, which in turn
enables the concrete to maintain its
chemical resilience and structural integrity in a seismically active environment
at the millennial scale.”
These same structures are not present in Portland cement, which instead
has high porosity at those interfaces that
allows cracks to form and propagate.
The paper is “Mechanical resilience
and cementitious processes in Imperial
Roman architectural mortar” (DOI:
10.1073/pnas.1417456111). n
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Using additive manufacturing—a.k.a. 3-D printing—researchers at Princeton University printed
LED lights directly into a hard contact lens to
show that active electronics of varied materials can
be printed into complex shapes. Although the contact lens may look real, the engineers created the
device solely as a proof of principle.
“This shows that we can use 3-D printing to
create complex electronics, including semiconductors,” says Michael McAlpine, mechanical
and aerospace engineering professor and senior
author of the new research, in a Princeton press
release about the work. “We were able to 3-D
print an entire device, in this case an LED.”
The researchers used additive manufacturing to
print cube-shaped LEDs into a hard plastic contact
lens, using quantum dots as the “ink.” The device
incorporated five materials: “(1) emissive semiconducting inorganic nanoparticles, (2) an elastomeric
Princeton University professor Michael McAlpine holds a contact lens 3-D
matrix, (3) organic polymers as charge transport layprinted with LED lights.
ers, (4) solid and liquid metal leads, and (5) a UVadhesive transparent substrate layer,” according to
the paper’s abstract, published in Nano Letters.
Part of the novelty is that the team printed complex elecStarbar and Moly-D elements
tronics from diverse materials, which can be a challenge
are made in the U.S.A.
because of varying properties of each material.
with a focus on providing
“The materials were often mechanically, chemically, or
thermally incompatible—for example, using heat to shape one
the highest quality heating elements
material could inadvertently destroy another material in close
and service to the global market.
proximity,” states the press release. “The team had to find ways
to handle these incompatibilities and also had to develop new
methods to print electronics, rather than use the techniques
commonly used in the electronics industry.”
According to Yong Lin Kong, lead author and mechanical
and aerospace engineering graduate student, “For example, it
is not trivial to pattern a thin and uniform coating of nanoparticles and polymers without the involvement of conventional
microfabrication techniques, yet the thickness and uniformity
of the printed films are two of the critical parameters that determine the performance and yield of the printed active device.”
The scientists do not envision 3-D-printed electronics taking
the place of conventional manufacturing techniques—which primarily use lithography, a technique that is fast, efficient, and reliable. However, 3-D printing could be used in the future to create
I2R -- 50 years of service and reliability
complex and customized electronics for particular applications,
I Squared R Element Co., Inc.
such as custom-fitted medical devices.
Akron, NY Phone: (716)542-5511
“Trying to print a cellphone is probably not the way to go,”
Fax: (716)542-2100
McAlpine says in the release. “It is customization that gives the
power to 3-D printing.”
Email: [email protected]
The paper is “3-D printed quantum dot light-emitting
www.isquaredrelement.com
diodes” (DOI: 10.1021/nl5033292). n
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
Credit: Frank Wojciechowski; Princeton
3-D printing active electronics for eyes that emit LED light beams
21
research briefs
A recent discovery in Israel shows that
olive oil likely was a part of human diets
and daily routines as early as the sixth
century B.C.
During the 2011–2013 dig at Ein Zippori in northern Israel, a team from the
Israel Antiquities Authority unearthed
ancient clay pots that contained residue
of equally ancient—some 8,000 years
ancient—olive oil. Their findings, published in the Israel Journal of Plant Sciences, support earlier research into the
domestication of the olive tree, and
researchers believe that olive oil was an
important part of diet and possibly was
used in primitive lighting.
According to Ianir Milevski and Nimrod Getzov, who oversaw the excavation
team, “This is the earliest evidence of
the use of olive oil in the country and
perhaps the entire Mediterranean basin.”
Credit: Israel Antiquities Authority
Ancient Israeli pottery contains
8,000-year-old olive oil residue
Samples from ancient pottery uncovered in Galilee contain traces of the world’s oldest
olive oil.
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www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
With the assistance of Dvory Namdar from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, they tested the organic remains contained in
about two dozen of the early Chalcolithic-era pottery. Samples
revealed the remains to be olive oil that had resided in the
ancient vessels, two of which date back to 5800 B.C.
Further, in comparing the oil to “modern” year-old oil, they
found a “strong resemblance … indicating a particularly high
level of preservation of the ancient material, which had survived close to its original composition for almost 8,000 years.”
The paper is “Olive oil storage during the fifth and sixth
millennia B.C. at Ein Zippori, Northern Israel” (DOI:10.1080
/07929978.2014.960733). n
New research published in Science shows how a couple
of University of California, Los Angeles researchers have
devised a patterned surface that resembles a bed of nails and
is superrepellent against all liquid assaults—a true superomniphobic surface.
“There are numerous superhydrophobic surfaces. Recently
some groups reported superoleophobic surfaces that can
superrepel oils and many solvents, but fluorinated solvents,
like 3M FC-72, have been out of reach,” says coauthor C.J.
Kim in an email. “We broke this final barrier, so our surface
superrepels ‘all’ available liquids at standard conditions—thus
superomniphobic.”
Most superhydrophobic and superoleophobic surfaces are
created by patterning surfaces with microstructures or by
applying a polymer coating.
Kim adds, “All existing superrepellent surfaces were based
on maximizing the liquid repellent property of a hydrophobic material by microstructuring its surface. This approach
worked down to superoleophobic surfaces. However, extreme
liquids like FC-72 perfectly wet the most hydrophobic material, so we concluded the existing approach wouldn’t work.”
“We set out to create surface microstructures that would
superrepel FC-72 purely by their geometric effect—regardless
of the chemical property of the material. First, we analyzed
to quantitatively predict what kind of microstructures would
successfully superrepel FC-72. Second, we developed fabrication to obtain such microstructures.”
Kim and colleague Leo Liu etched patterns of nails onto
the surface of silica, a “completely wettable material,” using
photolithography and reactive-ion etching. The duo found
that the trick was not to fabricate simple structures that
resemble nails or nailheads, but to add an overhanging lip to
the edge of the nailheads.
The lip prevents liquid from seeping into the space below
the nailheads, keeping the material’s surface from getting
wet. The team showed that its novel structures worked brilliantly to keep 14 liquids at bay on silica’s surface. They also
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
Credit: T. Liu, C.-J. Kim; UCLA
Nano-nails give surfaces superrepellent superpowers against all liquids
Micrograph of the nailhead-patterned surface shows high
uniformity for repelling liquids.
23
research briefs
showed that the pattern worked for
metals and polymers, too.
Because the supersurface requires no
coatings or layers on top of the material, it is also stable against temperatures,
weather, and time periods—the sur-
face is limited only by the material of
which it is composed. According to the
paper’s abstract, the superomniphobic
silica surface is stable at temperatures
above 1,000°C.
“Without the need to apply a
abstracts due March 31
6
hydrophobic material coating, which
is almost always a polymer, now one
can make extremely repellent surfaces
using the most durable materials,” Kim
says. “Also, since the change of material
surface properties does not affect this
‘mechanical’ surface, there is a good
possibility one can develop surfaces that
overcome biofouling, too.”
The paper is “Turning a surface
superrepellent even to completely
wetting liquids” (DOI: 10.1126/
science.1254787). n
TH
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CEMENT-BASED
MATERIALS
July 20 – 22, 2015
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www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
GERMAN
GERMAN
ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING
SINCE
SINCE 1860
1860
Refractories—
Engineered,
high-performance
‘silent partners’
By Eileen De Guire
T
hose who say the refractory industry
is old are right. The oldest known
furnace was built with sun-dried bricks in
Yarim-Tepe, Iraq, around 6000 B.C.1 In a
sense, too, the history of the ages—Stone Age,
Bronze Age, Iron Age—is a history of refractory technology. Stone Age era civilizations
used kilns to fuse and anneal glass, fire brick,
smelt ore, and make rudimentary cement
and gypsum. Civilizations that discovered the
metallurgy that gave name to the Bronze Age
and Iron Age gained technological advantages
over neighboring civilizations, usually through
improved weaponry that allowed them to
claim resources.
The Industrial Revolution exploded out of advances in ironmaking technology and steam power. Larger blast furnaces operated at higher temperatures, and invention of the rolling mill expedited metal forming for making machinery for manufacturing.
However, none of these metallurgical advances would be possible without prior seminal advances in furnace building and the
refractories within.
Refractories—the “silent partners” of manufacturing—make
possible anything made of metal, glass, or ceramic. They are
essential to petrochemical and chemical processing.
Hidden from view, advances in refractory engineering tend to
be known only to those in the field. However, every advance in
refractory technology goes straight to the bottom line, especially
26
in the steel industry, which consumes 65%–75% of global refractory production (see infographic, p. 27).
Steelmaking requires a wide range of refractory products,
each designed for specific functions. A basic oxygen furnace
(BOF), for example, is built with about 10 refractory brick types
to achieve uniform wear in the furnace. Other elements of the
steelmaking process, such as the tundish, ladle, and continuous caster, call for specialized refractory slide gates, purge plugs,
lances, and more.
Material savings translate to cost savings in manufacturing.
For example, improved design and installation reduced refractory usage in steelmaking from 60 kg/ton in 1950 to 15 kg/ton
in 2014—a 75% reduction in materials.2 Refractory service life
affects the bottom line, too. In the decade from 1986 to 1996,
LTV-Inland Steel (now defunct and absorbed into ArcelorMittal)
in the United States increased BOF converter lining heats from
2,000 to more than 48,000. Baosteel in China and Tata Steel in
India also increased BOF lining service lifetimes, although not
as dramatically. These advances are critical because unplanned
downtime in a steel plant is costly—up to $1,000 per minute.2
In the industries they enable, refractories of the future will be
expected to do more than handle heat, optimize energy usage,
and minimize environment impact. Controlling nanoscale features of the refractories will improve rigidity, toughness, thermal
shock resistance, and corrosion resistance. And incorporating
silica nanoparticles into castable refractory formulations will
enhance flow, resulting in a denser refractory.3 Future refractories may be bendable and self-healing, or may work to reduce
inclusions and other defects in molten metals.2
A recent report presented a refractory research roadmap with
a 10-year horizon that addresses materials testing, processing,
preparation, and synthesis to advance strategic goals, such as
energy and resource efficiency, while balancing economic and
material property requirements.4 The roadmap identified key
areas for research, including alternative raw materials, refractory
recycling, near-net shaping, rapid prototyping, surface engineering, bioinspired materials, and modeling and simulation studies.
Advancing refractory technology will require accurate hightemperature property data and high-temperature testing instruments—always a challenge.
As it has for millennia, refractories will continue to serve
as “silent partners” to the metal, glass, ceramic, and chemical industries. However, the partners know that this silence is
“golden” and speaks to their bottom lines in technical, environmental, safety, and economical terms.
References
“Technology of Monolithic Refractories, Revised,” Plibrico, Tokyo,
Japan, 1999.
1
C.E. Semler, “The advancement of refractories technology never stops,”
refractories WORLDFORUM, 6 [4] 27–35 (2014).
2
R. Salamão, A.D.M. Souze, L. Fernandes, and C.C. Arruda, “Advances
in nanotechnology for refractories: When very small meets hot, heavy,
and large,” Am. Ceram. Soc. Bull., 92 [7] 22–27 (2013).
3
A. Geigenmüller, H. Spindler, K. Lenk, and C.G. Aneziris,
“Future research in refractories: A roadmap approach,” refractories
4
WORLDFORUM, 6 [3] 68–74 (2014).n
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
27
bulletin
cover story
Figure 1. Hydraulic press Alpha 1500 with 1,500-ton pressing force
and filling height of 120 mm.
Credit: Alpha Ceramics, Aachen
S
Case study—
Applying lateral
thinking to process
development and
optimization of
specialty kiln furniture
By Roel van Loo
A German company manufactures tall, large-area saggars for a
severe firing application by adapting an undersized press and
pulling a vacuum.
28
ituated in the westernmost city of
Germany, Alpha Ceramics GmbH
in Aachen (ACA) offers a broad range of
services for the ceramic industry and related
sectors such as glass, refractory, concrete,
powder metallurgy, and environmental technology. ACA, a subsidiary of Laeis GmbH
(see sidebar), provides testing capacity for
new customers as well as in-house process
development and optimization. State-of-theart production scale machinery and equipment for material preparation, shaping, and
thermal treatment are available on site.
ACA offers its R&D and testing services to third parties,
and the equipment is also available for direct toll productions.
This possibility allows international customers to have newly
developed products manufactured at ACA for a limited time, for
example to test market acceptance or to bridge a time gap until a
production plant comes online. Products that are required only
in small lots and for which a separate production plant would
not be economical can be supplied recurrently on call order.
Emphasis of development activities at ACA focuses on applications. Through regular interaction with universities and other
R&D institutions, however, new basic research developments
also are integrated continuously. In addition, proprietary niche
products are developed and directly marketed, especially various
types of kiln furniture ranging from cordierite stacking aids to
highly sophisticated mullite–corundum pusher plates for rapidfiring purposes.
The following case studies show how ACA developed
unique adaptations to produce specialty refractories for
extreme environments.
Resources—Equipment and skills
ACA is equipped with superior technical equipment. The
center owns an industrial spray dryer with an evaporation capacity of 180 L/h. It can spray-dry materials such as alumina, zirconia, AlTiO5, raw material for sputtering targets, and tile bodies.
Crushing and grinding machines include wet ball mills, and a
pearl mill. Onsite intensive mixers of various sizes (5-, 40-, and
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Capsule summary
Challenge
The approach
Key point
The available press was not suited to form
A custom-built, three-step, pneumatically driven
Economic production of new products with
shapes with the high sides and large areas the
mold allowed proper compaction of powders.
unusual designs and exacting specifications
customer required.
Careful powder preparation combined with
can be accomplished by working creatively with
vacuum pressing eliminated structural defects
available resources and paying attention to fun-
and delamination.
damental principles of ceramic manufacturing.
ACA has onsite laboratory equipment
for material characterization and for
checking basic properties of green and
fired products. Detailed investigations,
such as scanning electron microscopy
and X-ray analysis, are conducted with
analytical equipment at the Technical
University of Aachen.
Installations are operated by skilled
technical staff with scientific know-how,
broad industrial expertise, and comprehensive knowledge based on successful
developments during the past 15 years.
Developments have served worldwide
customers solving process- and machinery-related tasks.
body, shaping under vacuum conditions,
and firing at moderately high temperatures (all under appropriate quality control); and culminating with final product
delivery to the customer.
ACA received an inquiry to produce
refractory saggars with dimensions of
425 mm  330 mm and a maximum
height of 82 mm for use in a severe firing atmosphere demanding extraordinary
resistance to corrosion and thermal
shock. Products with a height greater
than 50 mm normally must be made on
press-type HPF to have enough filling
height. However, press HPF 630 was
occupied for other production. Also, it
does not provide enough pressing force
for such a large area. Therefore attention
turned to whether the Alpha 1500/120
press could be used for this purpose and
how to adapt the production process
accordingly. This press is a modified
version of an original tile press with an
extended filling depth of 120 mm for
producing advanced ceramics.
150-L useful volume) mix and prepare
materials. As a subsidiary of Laeis, ACA
has access to a range of sophisticated
uniaxial hydraulic presses featuring
modern control techniques and reliable
hydraulic components. Three modified
production Laeis presses are installed
onsite, all with the ability to press under
vacuum:
• Alpha 800 (800-ton pressing force
with filling height of 80 mm);
• Alpha 1500 (1,500-ton pressing
force with filling height of 120 mm)
(Figure 1); and
• HPF 630 (630-ton pressing force
with filling height of 600 mm).
A large variety of molds for those
presses offer the ability to evaluate optimum pressing parameters for all types
of products.
A range of equipment for thermal
treatment, such as drying and firing of
silicate ceramic and oxide ceramic products, whether shaped during customer’s
trials or customer-supplied green products includes:
• Laboratory dryers and kilns;
• Large-volume chamber dryer with
climate control;
• Chamber kilns capable of temperatures to ~1,700°C; and
• Combination roller dryer/roller kiln
for drying and firing products at moderately high temperatures (~1,400°C) in a
relatively short time.
Case study—Saggar for severe
firing environment
The following “design-to-production
process” example shows how a customerrelated development project reaches
maturity—starting with design of the
shaping mold; followed by selecting a
proper body formulation, preparing the
Alpha Ceramics in Aachen, Germany (ACA) is
a member of TEAM by Sacmi, an alliance of
Sacmi (Imola, Italy) companies that supplies
cutting-edge technology for advanced ceramics production. TEAM by Sacmi combines
the innovative skill and technology of Sacmi,
Riedhammer (Nuremberg, Germany), Sama
(Weissenstadt, Germany), Laeis (Wecker,
Luxembourg), and ACA. ACA was founded in
1999 and serves as the R&D and technology
center for Laeis, a manufacturer of hydraulic
high-performance presses.
Credit: Alpha Ceramics, Aachen
About Alpha Ceramics GmbH
Figure 2. Mold for pressing saggars with more than 120 mm filling height in the
Alpha 1500 press.
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
29
Case study—Applying lateral thinking to process development and optimization of . . .
ponents, eliminating heterogeneity in the
spray-dried powder caused by segregation.
The slurry was injected under pressure into a spray dryer at 300°C using
two-fluid (pneumatic) atomization. This
technique uses compressed air to assist
atomization, creating many droplets
that quickly achieve a spherical shape
because of surface tension. The large
surface area-to-volume ratio of the
droplets allows rapid water evaporation.
Finished spray-dried granules have excellent flow properties, which ensures uniform filling of a press mold for shaping.
Various spray-drying parameters, such
as water content of the slurry, viscosity,
pumping pressure, as well as nozzle type
and diameter, can decisively influence
granule properties.3,4
Shaping
Uniaxial pressing of powder, granulates, and ceramic body formulations is
the most common shaping technology
for many areas of the ceramic industry.5,6
To avoid texture heterogeneity or, in the
worst case, delamination from entrapped
air, standard pressing procedures
often include several de-airing steps.
Consequently, some air can leak through
the edge gap between mold and die.
Residual air, however, will accumulate
in areas of the part that are compressed
last. In the particular case of shaping
a saggar, these areas are contact points
(edges) between the wall and bottom
surface. If compression pressure of the
Credit: Alpha Ceramics, Aachen
Body composition
and preparation
The raw material selected
for refractory saggars was
ACA composition Alphoxit
82 RH (see Table 1).1 The
material is a mullite–corundum composite based on very
pure and contamination-free
raw materials. Oxides, such
as K2O, Na2O, CaO, MgO,
Fe2O3, and TiO2 negatively
influence the refractoriness of
mullite–corundum mineral
mixtures.2 These oxides can
affect mullite crystal structure,
cause release of SiO2, and
create low-melting eutectics.
The material used consists of
two fundamental phases: a
coarse frame-building tabular
alumina phase, and a fine
mullite bonding matrix of
sintered mullite, kaolin clay
(with good conversion to
mullite during sintering), and
reactive alumina to adjust the
Figure 3. Electrically heated top-hat kiln fires at temstoichiometric ratio between
peratures up to 1,700°C.
Al2O3 and free SiO2 to maximize mullite (3Al2O3∙2SiO2) content.
Mold design
Minimizing the coefficient of therThe maximum filling depth of the
mal expansion of the bonding matrix,
Alpha 1500/120 press is limited to 120
increasing three-point bend strength,
mm—an important consideration for
and decreasing Young's modulus of the
design and construction of the press
coarse building phase optimized thermal
mold. A typical compaction ratio of
shock resistance. Optimizing particle
refractory material is approximately
size distribution achieved the latter two
2:1, and one can calculate that this is
properties, resulting in a higher density
insufficient for a saggar with maximum
material. These optimizations yielded a
height of more than 80 mm. Gaining
refractory material with excellent thermal
the needed filling depth required invenshock resistance at service temperatures
tive construction of the pressing mold
up to 1,450°C and high resistance against
(Figure 2). The mold frame is held in
chemical, thermal, and oxidizing influencpressing position with pneumatically
es, making the material especially suitable
driven "claws" and an equally driven
for firing electrical ceramics, corrosive
mandrel, which can be moved manually
powders, and structural ceramics.
after pressing. Thus, shaping of saggars
After optimizing formulation, the
with the required dimensions became
ceramic body composition must be
possible in this press.
prepared properly. Spray drying is used
This technology also can be adapted
widely to convert separate raw material
and used for other saggar geometries or
powders or mixtures into a free-flowing
comparable products in the same way.
granulate of uniform bulk density. A
At present the mold is filled manually.
water-based suspension was prepared of
An automatic filling process, which will
the above raw material formulation. ACA
require a completely different approach,
developed a proprietary procedure to
is under investigation.
avoid sedimentation of individual com30
Table 1. Datasheet for Alphoxit 82*
Composition*
Constituent
Weight %
Al2O383.1
SiO215.6
Fe2O30.2
MgO + CaO
0.1
K2O + Na2O0.6
Mechanical and thermal properties
Property
Value
Apparent density
2,600 kg/m3
Open porosity
27 vol%
Three-point bend strength (room temperature) 30 MPa
Young’s modulus
16 GPa
Coefficient of thermal expansion (1,400°C)
5.8 x 10–6/K
*Average values only. Not for design.
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Thermal treatment
Substantial internal investigations
have been conducted during the past
several years on rapid-firing of kiln
furniture. As a result, firing cycles have
been decreased substantially, resulting
in reduced energy consumption. This is
especially important for products with
a wall thickness up to 15 mm. Figure 3
shows the electrically heated top-hat kiln
used to fire mullite–corundum saggars.
To optimize this firing process, ACA
performed in-house differential thermal
analyses. Thermographs showed several
endothermic and exothermic reactions
between 450°C and 1,200°C during
heat-up of kaolinite. The main miner-
alogical transformation—thermal
decomposition of kaolinite followed
by reaction with alumina to form
mullite (3Al2O3∙2SiO2)—occurs during firing of saggars in an electrically heated kiln.8 Optimizing the
kiln firing cycle made it possible
to customize the microstructure of
the bonding phase of the refractory
material with regard to the special
requirements for the application.
Quality control
Refractories, and especially kiln
furniture, continuously experience Figure 4. Mullite–corundum saggar (425 x
330 mm 330 mm x 82 mm).
thermal stress from heating up and
seeking alternatives to available prodcooling down over a long period of
ucts, with the goal of manufacturing a
time. To determine thermal shock resistance (TSR)—which is the maximum toler- 100%-fused MgO setter plate or disk for
sintering electronic components. When
able temperature difference the component can withstand— modulus of rupture, firing electronic components, it is most
important to avoid chemical interaction
thermal conductivity, and bend strength
between the component and supporting
are measured on a specimen cut from a
kiln furniture. This study resulted in a
sample saggar (Figure 4). Fired density,
new MgO material with suitable electriopen porosity, and water absorption are
cal and refractory properties for producdetermined using Archimedes method to
tion to support electronic components
detect heterogeneity in the body or difduring sintering. Production trials have
ferences in density between the wall and
shown that these MgO setter plates and
bottom of saggars. Such differences can
disks perform excellently, particularly
cause cracks during usage and shorten
for firing electrical insulators at high
saggar lifetime.
temperatures (up to 1,600°C). Insulator
Quality control tests showed that this
quality is increased because there is no
new shaping technique does not harm
diffusion into the setter plates and vice
the mechanical and thermal properties.
versa. Another advantage of MgO setter
In particular, density differences were
plates is that the supporting kiln furnireduced to a minimum. Initial runs in
ture lasts remarkably longer.
the customer’s production under very
severe kiln conditions look promising—
Pusher plates
saggar lifetime is already longer than
A new kiln concept developed by
those obtained from other suppliers.
TEAM by Sacmi member Riedhammer
Saggars also show improved resistance
required a new formulation for pusher
against chemical, thermal, and oxidizing
plates based on a mullite–corundum
influences caused by the aggressive kiln
refractory material. Production of
atmosphere. This last benefit is a result of 390 mm  460 mm  41 mm pusher
body formulation optimization over the
plates with an extremely good TSR
past years.
will begin in the near future for firing
Specialty kiln furniture design
Detailed investigations for other applications in recent years have led to other
new products, many of which have been
raised to industrial application. Some of
these developments are described below.
MgO substrates
ACA started a ceramic body development study in response to customers
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
Credit: Alpha Ceramics, Aachen
entrapped air exceeds the green strength
of the saggar, it will burst or crack after
load release.
In principle, there are two approaches
to avoid texture damage caused by compacted air inclusion.
• Properly select an organic binder
system to increase green strength of the
pressed body to a sufficient level beyond
compression pressure of the entrapped
air; and
• Decrease the internal pressure
caused by entrapped air to a level below
the green strength of the pressed part,
simply by reducing the amount of air
inside the mold.
To avoid damage and lamination during production of the saggars described
above, ACA chose the second option.
This was realized with so-called vacuum
pressing technology, where the mold is
sealed and evacuated to a certain level
(typically less than 100 mbar) before
compacting the powder. ACA already
optimized this technology in cooperation with Laeis for a variety of applications.7 The mold cavity was evacuated
within seconds to a residual air pressure
less than 20 mbar. Doing so required
minimizing the volume to be evacuated,
which was achieved with a custom sealing technique. Cutting out de-airing
strokes keeps cycle times constant or
shortens them compared to conventional shaping technology. This new vacuum
device thus enhanced product quality
while maintaining output performance
at a comparable level.
advanced ceramic filter elements for the
automotive industry. The firing regime
calls for high loading density and exact
temperature and atmosphere control in
strict compliance with process requirements. The thermal processing plant for
this application is extremely complex,
requiring sophisticated components
and solutions that extend to the kiln
furniture used.
31
Figure 5. Vacuum pressing eliminates
structural defects in cordierite stacking
aids with large height variations.
Cordierite stacking aids
A special application required complex-shaped stacking aids (Figure 5) with
extreme height variations within a single
piece. Normally this type of product
is slip-cast to avoid density differences
within the product. Shaping by hydraulic
pressing was not an option because dry
pressing does not allow such differences
in thickness, and pressing of semiwet
plasticized refractory mixtures often
results in macroscopic structural defects
or layer formation caused by entrapped
air (or both). Such structural defects can
be eliminated completely with vacuum
pressing. The combination of preparation of bodies with exactly defined plasticity and pressing under vacuum conditions allows homogeneous compaction
and shaping of complex products with
extreme dimensional differences in pressing direction. Additionally, failures, such
as cracks and out-of-specification dimensions, which can be caused by relatively
high shrinkage in the slip-casting process,
are reduced to a minimum when using
this semi-wet pressing technology.
Transparent spinel ceramics
One established process route for
producing polycrystalline transparent
spinel plates includes material preparation, uniaxial prepressing, cold isostatic
pressing (CIP), binder removal, and hot
isostatic pressing (HIP). When larger
sizes are required, CIP can bottleneck
the process chain. ACA and Laeis
worked with the Fraunhofer Institute
for Ceramic Technologies and Systems
(Dresden, Germany) to optimize the
uniaxial hydraulic pressing step and to
avoid CIP completely. Optimization of
the pressing regime in combination with
vacuum pressing technology allowed pro32
duction of spinel plates with
green densities close to those
obtained by CIP. Large plates
with dimensions of 300 mm
 400 mm
and thickness of 12–15 mm
were pressed, even though
pressing force was limited to
120 MPa because of the size
of the available press. After
standard thermal treatment
(including HIP), the plates
were transparent (Figure
6). Transmittance values
Figure 6. Transparent spinel plate (220 x 300 mm x
were practically the same as
4 mm).
samples that were subjected
ket to produce such refractory saggars
to additional CIP for comparison. This
with a relatively inexpensive hydraulic
feasibility study proved the possibility
press, compared with alternative refracof producing large, crack-free, transpartory press types. Investment costs hereby
ent spinel plates without expensive and
are remarkably reduced without any
time-consuming redensification by CIP.
particular concessions regarding perforFurther optimization work is necessary,
mance and product quality.
however, and ACA currently is seeking
partners to produce large-sized transparAbout the author
ent spinel plates.
Roel van Loo is production manager
Summary and outlook
at Alpha Ceramics GmbH, Aachen,
Economic and ecological requireGermany. Contact van Loo at vanLoo@
ments often trigger a reconsideration
alpha-ceramics.de.
of established process chains for the
ceramic industry. At the same time,
References
1
development of new products, especially
Alpha Ceramics Aachen: Material Data Sheet
advanced ceramics, needs feasible new
Alphoxit RH (www.alpha-ceramics.de).
2
process technologies. ACA’s case studC.Y. Chen, G.S. Lan, and W.H. Tuan,
ies show that creative and innovative
“Preparation of mullite by the reaction sintering of kaolinite and alumina,” J. Eur. Ceram.
approaches to adapting equipment,
combined with proper body formulation Soc., 20, 2519–25 (2000).
and powder preparation, can lead to suc- 3S.L. Lukasiewicz, “Spray-drying ceramic powders,” J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 72 [4] 617-24 (1989).
cessful establishment of new products
4
in production scale. Typically, projects
F.V. Shaw, “Spray drying: A traditional process for advanced applications,” Am. Ceram.
resulted in less costly production techSoc. Bull., 69 [9] 1484–88 (1990).
niques or better quality products. The
5
saggar case study in particular proves
A. Kaiser and R. Lutz, “Uniaxial hydraulic
that lateral thinking can spark new ideas pressing as shaping technology for advanced
ceramic products of larger size,” Interceram, 60
and broaden horizons, thus overcoming
[3] 230-34 (2011).
alleged restrictions or even “impossibili6
A. Kaiser, “Hydraulic pressing of advanced
ties” in certain manufacturing technoloceramics,”
cfi/Ber. DKG, 84 [6] E27–E32
gies. For example, by adapting a mold rig
(2007).
and using vacuum pressing, saggars with
7
R. Kremer and A. Kaiser, “Fast-acting vacuum
a height of up to 80 mm and a densificadevice—Guaranteed quality for pressed refraction factor of two were shaped using a
tories,” Interceram, Refractories Manual, 28–33
press that originally had only 120 mm
(2003).
filling depth, which would not be possi8
S.M. Johnson, “Mullitization of kaolinite and
ble in the conventional way. This opens
Al2O3–SiO2 mixtures”; M.S. thesis prepared
the opportunity for new manufacturers
for the U.S. Department of Energy under
and those already established in the mar- Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48 (1979). n
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Credit: Alpha Ceramics, Aachen
Credit: Alpha Ceramics, Aachen
Case study—Applying lateral thinking to process development and optimization of . . .
Picture credits: © WienTourismus – Claudio Alessandri (1)/Peter Rigaud (2)/Lois Lammerhuber (3)/Claudio Alessandri (4)
PARTNERSHIP IN MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY
14th Biennial Worldwide Congress
UNITECR
UNIT
2015
Unified International Technical
Conference on Refractories
REGISTRATION
NOW OPEN
VIENNA · AUSTRIA
SEPTEMBER 15–18
www.unitecr2015.org
Topics
 Industrial Refractory Applications
 Raw Materials and Recycling
 Advances in Manufacturing, Control and Installation
 Tests, Testing Equipment and Standardization
 Innovation in Materials and Technology
 Basic Science in Refractories
 Refractory Engineering – Design, Modeling and Simulation
 Environment and Sustainability
 Education
 Economic and Political Challenges
– in conjunction with the 58th International Colloquium on Refractories –
Contact: [email protected]
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
33
By Steve Freiman and Lynnette D. Madsen
Current state and future
opportunities for
ceramic education
in the United States
Orton Hall on Ohio State University’s campus in Columbus, Ohio. The historic building
was named after Edward Orton Sr., geologist and father of Edward Orton Jr., one of
ACerS' original founders.
Credit: Zagrev; Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0
S
everal challenges—as well as
opportunities—face ceramic engineering education today.
Although concerns regarding the
state of undergraduate ceramic
education in the United States
are not new,1–3 the 2014 meeting
of the Interagency Coordinating
Committee on Ceramic Research
and Development (ICCCRD)
recently reviewed the status and
future of ceramic engineering education. This committee, which has
existed for approximately 40 years,
consists of representatives from government agencies that have ceramics programs.4 At its 2014 meeting,
in addition to government agency
representatives, ICCCRD invited
speakers from Alfred University,
Pennsylvania State University, The
American Ceramic Society, American
Society for Engineering Education,
United States Advanced Ceramics
Association, and National Science
Foundation to provide their unique
perspectives on the state of ceramic
education in the U.S.
History of ceramic science and
engineering programs
In 1982, the ceramic honorary society Keramos
published a book by William Kriegel,1 a portion
34
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Capsule summary
of which he devotes to the history of
ceramic education. Ceramic engineering as a formal discipline began in
1894 with the creation of the Ceramic
Engineering Department at The Ohio
State University by Edward Orton Jr.
Four years later, Orton led the founding of The American Ceramic Society.
Many other universities followed Ohio
State’s lead and created ceramic engineering departments: Alfred University
(1900), Rutgers University (1902),
University of Illinois (1905), Iowa State
University (1906), and University of
Washington (1918). The 1920s saw
significant expansion in the number of
departments: University of Saskatchewan
(1921); Georgia Institute of Technology
(1923); West Virginia University,
North Carolina State University, and
Pennsylvania State University (1924);
University of Toronto (1925); Louisiana
State University, Missouri School of
Mines, and Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (graduate students only)
(1926); and University of Alabama and
Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1928).
Kriegel also traces changes in the
number of ceramic engineering programs. Beginning in the mid to late
1960s, many ceramics departments
began to merge with other departments
(e.g., metallurgy) to become materials
science and engineering departments.3
Subsequent curriculum additions reflected the growing technological importance
of semiconductors, polymers, and, much
later, biomaterials. Today, only two universities—Alfred and Missouri University
of Science and Technology—continue to
offer ceramic engineering degrees.5
Kriegel suggests that the lack of an
adequate definition of ceramics contributed to the decrease in ceramic
programs, because it failed to make the
field distinctive from other disciplines.
He noted that, in the 1940s, federal
agencies avoided use of the term ceramics, because it was not well understood
by nonexperts. Others—including ceramists—have made similar observations.2
accepted concept of ceramics?
•Are we educating students using the
best curricula and pedagogical methods?
•Are we attracting a diverse set of students to the field?
•Are the number of graduates in balance with available jobs?
background
Definition and image of ceramics
To the general public, ceramics represent objects of art or utility made from
clay, such as tableware. Similarly, glasses
refer to eyewear, windows, bottles, or stemware. Often, even individuals familiar with
technology do not recognize the numerous
applications for ceramics—as primary constituents of vital components in multilayer
capacitors, microwave components, highpurity silica fibers, engine components,
artificial hips, and many other applications. ICCCRD meeting attendees made
and reiterated the point that because of
their many unique optical, thermal, and
electronic properties, ceramics are often a
hidden but crucial material.
An attempt was made at the first
International Congress on Ceramics in
Toronto, Canada, in 2006, to broaden
the definition of ceramics by using the
phrase “any inorganic nonmetal.”6 This
definition goes a long way toward including materials beyond oxides, nitrides,
carbides, and borides—which are well
accepted as ceramics—to embrace also
chalcogenides (such as sulfides, selenides, and tellurides), optical materials at
all wavelengths (such as ZnS and ZnSe),
and forms of carbon (such as graphite,
diamond, and carbon nanotubes). By
this definition, many materials that are
Major point
The Interagency Coordinating Committee on
Ceramic Research and Development reviewed
the status and future of ceramic education at
its spring 2014 meeting.
For the most part, ceramic-specific education
programs have been integrated into materials
science and engineering departments.
FUTURE CHALLENGES
•Arrive at a workable definition of ceramics
that encompasses new materials.
•Disseminate effective new teaching
practices and continue to evolve curricula.
•Attract and retain talent by engaging
underrepresented groups.
•Ensure that empolyment pathways are
fully explored.
attributed to nanotechnology, optical
materials or photonics, and electronics
are indeed ceramics.
Pedagogy and curricula
During the ICCCRD meeting, Linda
Jones, then vice president and head of
Alfred University’s ceramics program,
discussed the distinction between
ceramic science and ceramic engineering. Jones argued that ceramic engineering involves the design of a material or
a process, while ceramic science encom-
The ICCCRD discussion focused on
the status of ceramic education and the
following questions:
•Can we define and expand the
Credit: ACerS
Issues in ceramic education today
Material Advantage undergraduate student speakers at MS&T14 in Pittsburgh, Pa.
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
35
Current state and future opportunities for ceramic education in the United States
students’ education.7 Computational
science and engineering remains a
growing part of the materials world.
For example, the computation-driven
Materials Genome Initiative has potential
to greatly expand research into the rapid
development of new materials. Faber
also noted that the National Academy of
Engineering suggested that, by 2020, “the
B.S. degree will effectively become the
engineer-in-training degree and the M.S.
degree the professional degree.”8,9
the access and advancement of women.
Neither our academic institutions nor
our nation can afford such underuse of
precious human capital in science and
engineering.”13
Table 1. Gender bias in materials engineering
Materials engineering degrees granted, 2011 Women
Engagement and diversity
White and Asian men have historically dominated the field of ceramics
(materials science and engineering and
related areas in physics and chemistry).
For example, The American Ceramic
Society elected only one female president
during its first 100 years (1899–1999).10
However, during the past 16 years,
the Society has elected four additional
women as presidents. Overall, the trend
of engaging more women in the science
and engineering side of ceramics is slowly changing. But a deficit of all underrepresented groups, including minorities
and people with disabilities, still persists
in ceramics as well as in most science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.11 To excel, these fields
must attract top talent regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, etc.
Women remain underrepresented
in materials engineering programs at
all levels and in professorial positions
(Table 1).12 According to the National
Academies “Beyond Bias and Barriers
Report,” “it is not lack of talent, but
unintentional biases and outmoded
institutional structures that are hindering
Credit: Texas A&M (NSF Award No. 0846504)
passes fundamental material physics and
chemistry. Jones commented on the
decline of courses in many specialties
within the ceramics field, such as fractography and glass science. In part, this
reduction reflects retirement of professors in these fields, with little attempt
made to replace their expertise. When
an individual with a particular specialization retires, the institution must decide
whether to replace her or his expertise.
With the growth of new topics, such as
energy materials and nanotechnology, it
is not surprising that some traditional
areas of ceramic research are no longer a
primary focus.
Gary Messing, head of the Materials
Science and Engineering Department at
Pennsylvania State University, touched
on this topic in his presentation. He
presented examples of materials science
and engineering options that include
ceramics and electronic or photonic
materials—many of which are ceramics as
well. Messing also noted that a graduate
program’s rank is based on the quality
and extent of its research rather than on
undergraduate teaching, leading to an
emphasis on cutting-edge topics. Some
fields that seem more relevant today simply have caught the attention of media,
giving the appearance of more promise
for careers (e.g., computer science and
nanotechnology). In addition, degrees
now require fewer course hours, leading
to a reduction either in number of courses taught or time spent on each topic.
Several years ago, Katharine Faber,
materials science professor at California
Institute of Technology, pointed out that
modern teaching techniques, such as
“Materials by Design,” could also enhance
Texas A&M materials science and engineering professor Haiyan Wang supervises
graduate student Joon Hwan Lee.
36
Bachelor
28%
Master's
27%
Ph.D.
24%
Engineering employment in academia, 2010
Women
Assistant professor
32%
Associate and full professor
10%
Although women tend to be touted
as masters of teamwork, the generality is
infrequently connected to engineering
careers. There also seems to be a lack of
appreciation for engineering’s contributions to society. For example, some view
healthcare as a more “giving” or altruistic
field. Additionally, the lack of widespread
understanding of what ceramics are and
how they contribute to engineering solutions to society’s grand challenges naturally begets a failure to appreciate careers
in ceramic science and engineering.
Exciting careers with above-average
U.S. salaries are available to ceramic scientists and engineers, but young people
embarking in higher education seem
not to have discovered the profession's
opportunities. Concurrently, the cost
of education continues to increase, and
debts incurred by some bachelor degree
graduates can seem daunting.14
ACerS executive director Charlie
Spahr reported that the Society recently
formed the Ceramic and Glass Industry
Foundation, one aim of which will be to
support scholarships and internships in
ceramic and glass science and engineering.
The CGIF mission is to ensure that industry is able to attract and train the highestquality talent possible by increasing awareness of the field and facilitating the choice
with experiences such as internships.
Employment
The presence of lucrative employment
opportunities is a primary driving force
for enrollment in any university discipline. The ceramics community continues
to debate the need for additional ceramic
engineers in the workforce. Lynnette
Madsen, program director of Ceramics
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
One million more STEM professionals
needed by 2022
*Excerpt from 2012 President’s Council of Advisors
on Science and Technology (PCAST) "Report on
Education"17
at the National Science Foundation,
raised the issue of whether the number
of new ceramic science and engineering
graduates is sufficient to meet workforce
needs.15 However, when discussing job
shortages, one must ask whether salary
structures reflect the need for a particular
expertise. In this respect, there is insufficient data to suggest that the need for
ceramic engineers is great enough for
salary structure to differ significantly from
that of other engineers.
Is there a shortage of ceramic engineers and glass scientists in terms of
the needs within U.S. companies? A
recent article published by Corning
Incorporated claims that “students
with expertise in glass families that are
industrially relevant (particularly silicate
glasses and glass-ceramics) are more
likely to be hired into a position in
industry and also require less on the job
technical training after being hired.”16
Government reports project a shortfall
of STEM professionals (see sidebar
above),17 but other reports suggest that
there is no shortage of scientists and
engineers in the U.S. workforce.18
Douglas Freitag, technical director of
the U.S. Advanced Ceramic Association,
said that its member companies have difficulty finding job candidates with the
requisite expertise to apply to polymerand ceramic-matrix composites. According
to Freitag, there is no known ceramic
composite training programs. Also, export
control issues restrict hiring to U.S.
citizens, further limiting the job pool.
Norman Fortenberry, executive director
of the American Society of Engineering
Education, also stressed this point.
Credit: Steve Jacobs; Union College (NSF Award No. 1206631)
“Economic projections point to a need for approximately 1 million more STEM professionals than the U.S. will produce at the current
rate over the next decade if the country is to
retain its historical preeminence in science
and technology. To meet this goal, the U.S.
will need to increase the number of students
who receive undergraduate STEM degrees by
about 34% annually over current rates.”
Mechanical engineering student Lauren Brown presents aerogel research at the Union
College Charles P. Steinmetz Symposium.
Future opportunities
Although this section moves beyond the
discussion at the ICCCRD meeting and
suggests avenues to consider, it addresses
primarily the issues raised already. The
following is not comprehensive in its treatment of education as a whole, because
other sources exist for those purposes. For
example, recent National Academy reports
provide many excellent insights into
improving engineering education at the
undergraduate level.19,20
Image of ceramics
One of the primary recommendations
for growth of ceramic science and engineering is to better define and accept
what is ceramic. As mentioned previously, a possible definition that encompasses most of the materials of interest is
“any inorganic nonmetal.” Students and
the public need to be better informed
about the significance of ceramic materials and their importance in technology,
perhaps through press releases, books,
videos, and even museums.
Pedagogy and curricula
To provide the best possible education to ceramic science and engineering
undergraduates, educators should fully
explore and adopt state-of-the-art teaching methods. Educators should also
focus on a broad spectrum of ceramic
technologies and properties—nanotechnology, glass and optics, and electronic
materials as well as the fundamental
aspects of the materials, such as phase
equilibria and mechanical properties.
A recent education report to U.S.
President Barack Obama (see sidebar
below)17 ties together issues of diversity
and teaching, and the report also endorses
using evidence-based teaching methodologies to effectively reach more students.20
At present, the field of ceramics may
suffer from too few faculty members at
any given institution and, consequently,
few students being taught or trained in
the field. Courses team-taught by several
experts in a particular aspect of ceramic
science, regardless of location, are one
way to make use of the best expertise
available.
Naturally, increased funding of ceramic
material research would increase the
number of graduate students in this area.
Individuals entering graduate programs frequently make decisions on specialties based
Evidence-based teaching reaches students
“Better teaching methods are needed by university faculty to make courses more inspiring, provide
more help to students facing mathematical challenges, and to create an atmosphere of a community of STEM learners. Traditional teaching methods have trained many STEM professionals,
including most of the current STEM workforce. But a large and growing body of research indicates
that STEM education can be substantially improved through a diversification of teaching methods.
These data show that evidence-based teaching methods are more effective in reaching all students
especially the ‘underrepresented majority’—the women and members of minority groups who now
constitute approximately 70% of college students while being underrepresented among students
who receive undergraduate STEM degrees (approximately 45%). This underrepresented majority is
a large potential source of STEM professionals.”
*Excerpt from 2012 President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) "Report on Education"17
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
37
Current state and future opportunities for ceramic education in the United States
on the availability of resources for tuition
and research. NSF has a supplemental
program to encourage minority graduate
students, but it is undersubscribed.
gration rules or limits access to some
technical fields.
Diversity, accessibility, and attraction
Programs to attract and retain more
women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups into material science,
and ceramics in particular, should be
expanded. On the professional level, for
example, companies and academic institutions may need to find creative solutions for accommodating young couples
seeking paired positions. Already, some
funding agencies, such as NSF, have
established mechanisms for “stopping
the clock” for a year to care for a newborn. Universities, funding agencies,
and companies may find policies that
meaningfully address work–life balance
will help them recruit the best talent
possible. In addition, underrepresented
groups need opportunities to assume
leadership roles and be recognized for
their successes.
Undergraduate scholarships can help
guide a student’s decision of a college
major. Ceramic science and engineering
would benefit from increased funding
for this purpose. Industries interested in
hiring individuals with a background in
ceramics and glass could help sponsor as
well as provide financial support to students in ceramic science and engineering.
Evolving ceramic science and engineering education continues to be highly
relevant to the innovation of new materials. Many universities have incorporated
required courses on mathematics, engineering, chemistry, and physics of these
materials into materials science and
engineering (or related areas) curricula.
Consequently, there are fewer courses in
clay technology, ceramic and glass processing, and glass technology.
Building a vibrant ceramic engineering profession depends on attracting
the best talent possible and instilling in
them a passion for this class of materials.
Underrepresented groups have a key role
in strengthening the ceramic community and contributing to its vitality and
growth. Economic factors, such as cost of
education, availability of research funds,
and job opportunities, play a major role
in the health of this community across
the entire education spectrum—from
when a student selects a major to when a
new professor begins a career.
Employment
Employment opportunities and
research funding are major factors in a
student’s selection of an undergraduate
major or a graduate degree. If companies
are experiencing a shortage of qualified
candidates for ceramic jobs, offering
cooperative education programs and
internships would help more students
discover and enter this field. Increased
availability of research funding, either
through industry or government, would
increase graduate student numbers.
Developing a better path forward for
international students who come to the
U.S. for their education also is a priority
so that these highly skilled workers can
use their expertise in the U.S. workforce.
Ultimately, the fate of career opportunities for noncitizen students lies in the
political realm, which determines immi38
Final thoughts
About the authors
Steve Freiman is president at Freiman
Consulting. Lynnette D. Madsen is program director, Ceramics, at the National
Science Foundation. Contact Lynnette
Madsen at [email protected].
Acknowledgments
Steve Freiman would like to thank
Lewis Sloter and OASD (R&E) for
ICCCRD support.
Disclaimer
Any opinion, finding, recommendation, or conclusion expressed in this
material are those of the author/s and do
not necessarily reflect the views of NSF,
the Department of Defense, or other
agencies of the federal government.
References
W.W. Kriegel, Keramos, a biographical history.
Keramos, American Ceramic Society, Westerville,
Ohio, 1982.
1
D.W. Readey, Ceramic engineering education. MRS
Proceedings, Cambridge University Press, New
York, 1985.
2
3
D.W. Readey, “The response of ceramic engineering education to the changing role of ceramics in
industry and society”; pp. 343–78 in Ceramics and
Civilization, Vol. V. The American Ceramic Society,
Westerville, Ohio, 1990.
S. Freiman, L.D. Madsen, and J.W. McCauley,
“Advances in ceramics through governmentsupported research,” Am. Ceram. Soc. Bull., 88 [1]
27–31 (2009).
4
C. Semler, “Refractories—The world’s most important but least known products.” Am. Ceram. Soc.
Bull., 93 [2] 38 (2014).
5
S.W. Freiman, Global Roadmap for Ceramic and
Glass Technology, Ch. 1-11; pp. 1–18. Wiley New
York, 2007.
6
7
K.T. Faber; pp. 117–26 in Global Roadmap for
Ceramic and Glass Technology. Wiley, New York, 2007.
8
National Research Council, “Promising practices in
undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics education,” Washington, D.C., 2011.
National Research Council, “Educating engineers:
Preparing 21st century leaders in the context of
new modes of learning: Summary of a forum,”
Washington, D.C., 2013.
9
The American Ceramic Society: 100 years. The
American Ceramic Society, Westerville, Ohio, 1998.
10
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, “Education indicators in focus,”
2012. http://www.oecd.org/education/skillsbeyond-school/49986459.pdf
11
National Science Board, “Science and engineering indicators 2014.” http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/ accessed January 20, 2015.
12
13
Institute of Medicine, National Academy of
Sciences, and National Academy of Engineering,
Beyond bias and barriers: Fulfilling the potential of
women in academic science and engineering. The
National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2007.
http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_statedata.php
14
L.D. Madsen, “Workforce development:
Challenges and opportunities for ceramic science
and engineering.” Int. J. Appl. Ceram. Technol., 10
[3] 379–83 (2013).
15
16
J.C. Mauro, C.S. Philip, D.J. Vaughn, and M.S.
Pambianchi, “Glass science in the United States:
Current status and future directions.” Int. J. Appl.
Glass Sci., 5 [1] 2–15 (2014).
“Engage to excel: Producing one million additional college graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” PCAST
(President's Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology), Washington, D.C., February 2012.
17
M.S. Teitelbaum, “The myth of the science and
engineering shortage.” The Atlantic, March 19,
2014. (www.theatlantic.com)
18
19
National Research Council, “Promising practices in
undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics education,” Washington, D.C., 2011.
20
National Research Council, “Preparing 21st century leaders in the context of new modes of learning,” Washington, D.C., 2013. n
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
More than ever, we need engineers with a knowledge of ceramics . . .
Materials professionals use ceramics and glass to pioneer energy solutions, advance medicine, improve the environment, support manufacturing
innovations, and make life better. While ceramic and glass technologies are growing in importance, there are significant talent and training
shortfalls facing the ceramic and glass industry.
The mission of the CGIF is to ensure that industry is able to attract and train the highest quality talent available to
Mission
work with engineered systems and products that utilize ceramic and glass materials.
What will the Foundation deliver?
• Global Internship Database
• University – Industry Network
• Student Outreach
• Scholarships
• Continuing Education and Training
• Advocacy
How can you support the Ceramic and Glass Industry Foundation?
Your financial support will help the CGIF to:
· Create awareness of the critical work done by ceramic and glass
professionals worldwide.
· Attract qualified students to our field and help them thrive.
· Fill the ‘talent pipeline’ industry needs.
· Support continued professional development for those in the workforce.
The American Ceramic Society has committed an initial $1,000,000
matching grant to the CGIF. Every dollar you donate, up to $1 million,
will double in value by ACerS’ matching grant. Also, The American Ceramic
Society is providing all overhead and administrative services.
Every dollar of your donation—plus a dollar from the matching grant—will provide scholarships and programming.
For more information or to make a gift to the CGIF please contact: Marcus Fish | 614-794-5863 | [email protected]
foundation.ceramics.org
April 28 – 30, 2015
Cleveland, Ohio
register for a free pass now
at www.ceramicsexpousa.com
the manufacturing tradeshow for
advanced ceramic and glass materials
and technologies
Ceramics Expo brings together the latest industry
solutions and services to support every part of the
ceramics supply chain.
Register for your free pass now and meet over 150+
exhibitors, source new technology and network
with your industry peers.
Exhibition space at Ceramics Expo selling fast
Join the companies already exhibiting:
40
Limit
exhi ed
optiobit
rema ns
in
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
@
Attend the free of charge two track conference focusing on four high
impact, innovative areas of research, development and application.
Transportation
applications
Energy generation,
storage and delivery
Sustainability in
manufacturing
Specialty ceramic and
glass manufacturing
register now to guarantee your place
at www.ceramicsexpousa.com
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
41
2015
ACerS GOMD–DGG Joint
50
1
$
e
v
a
s
Annual Meeting
to
R
w
o
n
r
e
t
s
i
eg
ceramics.org/gomd-dgg
Join the Glass and Optical Materials Division and the Deutsche Glastechnische Gesellschaft in Miami for the GOMD-DGG
2015 Joint Annual Meeting. Sessions headed by technical leaders from industry, labs, and academia will cover the latest
advances in glass science and technology, amorphous solids, and optical materials. The poster session will highlight latebreaking research and includes the annual student poster contest.
Make your plans for GOMD-DGG 2015 today!
Technical Program
S1: Energy and Environmental Aspects
Conference Sponsors
Session 1: Flat Glasses, Fibers, Foams, and Enamels
Session 2: Active Glassy Materials
Session 3: Thin-Film Technologies
S2: Glasses in Health Care
S3: Fundamentals of the Glassy State
Session 1: Glass Formation and Structural Relaxation
Session 2: Nucleation, Growth, and Crystallization in
Glasses
Session 3: Structural Characterization of Glasses
Session 4: Computer Simulations and Modeling
Session 5: Mechanical Properties of Glasses
Session 6: Non-Oxide and Metallic Glasses
Session 7: Glass Under Extreme Conditions
AM ERICA N
E L EMEN T S
S4: Optical and Electronic Materials and Devices
Session 1: Amorphous Semiconductors: Materials
and Devices
Session 2: Optical Fibers
Session 3: Optical Materials for Components and Devices
Session 4: Glass-Ceramics and Optical Ceramics
Award Sponsors
S5: Glass Technology and Crosscutting Topics
Session 1: Challenges in Glass Manufacturing
Session 2: Transparent Protective Systems
Session 3: Liquid Synthesis and Sol-Gel-Derived Materials
Session 4: Waste Immobilization—Waste Form
Development: Processing and Performance
42
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
may 17 – 21 Hilton Miami Downtown
Short Course: Nucleation, Growth and
Schedule
Crystallization in Glasses
May 16 – 17, 2015 | 1 – 5 p.m.; 8 a.m. – Noon
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Welcome reception
6 – 8 p.m.
Monday, May 18, 2015
Plenary and concurrent sessions Instructor: Edgar Zanotto, Federal University of
São Carlos, Brazil
8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Lunch provided
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Poster session
6:30 – 9 p.m.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Plenary and concurrent sessions 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Kreidl Award Lecture
Noon – 1 p.m.
Lunch on own
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Glass and glass-ceramic researchers and manufacturers must avoid—or control—crystallization in glass.
Zanotto—a leading expert in the field—will teach a short
course on the intricate nucleation and crystal growth processes that control crystallization in glasses and how they
impact novel glass production and glass-ceramic innovations. Scheduled the weekend before the conference, the
short course segues directly into the GOMD–DGG 2015
conference.
Conference banquet
7 – 10 p.m.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Concurrent sessions 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 17, 2015 | 8:30 a.m. – 5:20 p.m.
Lunch on own
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Concurrent sessions
8 a.m. – Noon
Organizers: Glenn Gates, The Walters Art Museum; Pamela
Vandiver, University of Arizona; John McCloy, Washington
State University
Workshop: What’s New in Ancient
Glass Research
Modern characterization tools shed light on historical glass production methods and materials. ACerS Art,
Archaeology and Conservation Science Division’s one-day
workshop, in conjunction with the American Institute for
Conservation, addresses crystal growth in Chinese black
glazed teawares, Egyptian core vessel replication, and
much more. One lucky participant will get hands-on
practice with core vessel analysis.
Hilton Miami Downtown Hotel
1601 Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL 33132
Rates
$164 – Single/Double
$132 – Student
Reserve your room online at ceramics.org/gomd-dgg or
by phone at 1-305-374-0000 by April 17, 2015 to secure
the conference rate.
Program Chairs:
Gang Chen
Ohio University, USA
[email protected]
Steve W. Martin
Iowa State University, USA
[email protected]
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
Reinhard Conradt
RWTH Aachen University, Germany
[email protected]
43
REGISTER NOW TO SAVE $150!
11th International Conference on Ceramic Materials and
Components for Energy and Environmental Applications
June 14 – 19, 2015 Hyatt Regency Vancouver, BC, Canada
Ceramic technologies for sustainable development
The 11th CMCEE identifies key challenges and opportunities for ceramic technologies to create sustainable development.
A global event, 11th CMCEE promotes ceramic research for energy and environmental applications. The conference opens
with the plenary session, Technological Innovations and Sustainable Development, followed by 32 symposia covering
wide-ranging topics. Engage in discussions on a global scale and make lasting relationships during the networking events.
Register now to take part!
Plenary Speakers
ceramics.org/11cmcee
Dan Arvizu
44
Director and chief executive, National
Renewable Energy Laboratory; president,
Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC
Title: Maximizing the potential of
renewable energy
Arthur “Chip” Bottone
President and CEO, FuelCell Energy
Inc.; managing director, FuelCell Energy
Solutions GmbH
Title: TBA
Sanjay M. Correa
Vice president, CMC Program, GE Aviation
Title: CMC applications in turbine
engines: Science at scale
Richard Metzler
Managing director, Rauschert GmbH
Title: Energy efficient manufacturing: What
can be done in the technical ceramics
industry and which technical ceramic
products can help other industries
“Ceramic materials and technologies
play a key role in solving major energy
and environmental challenges facing the
global community.”
—Singh
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
Technical Program
Five technical tracks, 32 symposia
Hyatt Regency Vancouver
655 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 2R7
604-683-1234
– Ceramics for Energy Conversion, Storage, and
Distribution Systems
Single/Double: CA$220
– Ceramics for Energy Conservation and Efficiency
Triple: CA$255
– Ceramics for Environmental Systems
Quad: CA$290
Student: CA$165
– Crosscutting Materials Technologies
– Honorary Symposia
If you need assistance
with travel planning or
have questions about
the destination, contact
Greg Phelps at
[email protected].
Schedule
Sunday – June 14, 2015
Welcome reception
5 – 7 p.m.
Organizers
Monday – June 15, 2015
Plenary session Lunch
Concurrent sessions
9:30 a.m. – Noon
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
1:30 – 5 p.m.
Tuesday – June 16, 2015
Concurrent sessions
Lunch on own
Poster session and reception
8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
5 – 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday – June 17, 2015
Concurrent sessions
Free afternoon and evening
8:30 a.m. – Noon
Noon
Thursday – June 18, 2015
Concurrent sessions Lunch on own Conference dinner
8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Noon – 1:30 p.m.
7 – 9 p.m.
Friday – June 19, 2015
Concurrent sessions
8:30 a.m. – Noon
Mrityunjay Singh
Chair
Ohio Aerospace Institute, USA
Tatsuki Ohji
Cochair
AIST, Japan
Alexander Michaelis
Cochair
Fraunhofer IKTS, Germany
Sponsors
K FK
FURUYA METAL Co., Ltd.
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
45
Engineering Ceramics Division Meeting
(Credit for all photos: ACerS.)
Record-breaking 1,100 attend 39th ICACC in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Œ
“
This year’s conference was a great success and was very well received,” says
Michael Halbig, chair of the Engineering Ceramics Division. “It has become the
premier international conference on advanced ceramics and composites in the
world, with strong participation from students and young professionals as well as
scientists and engineers from all corners of the globe.”
The conference opened with the Mueller Award Lecture by David Clarke (Harvard University) on the topic of thermal barrier coatings for gas-turbine engines.
Sanjay Mathur (University of Cologne, Germany) followed with the Bridge Builder
Award Lecture and showed how nanomaterial functionality derives from chemical
processing pathways.
In the first plenary talk, Cato Laurencin (University of Connecticut) described his
cross-disciplinary research at the intersection of materials science and biology.
This new field, known as regenerative engineering, uses materials—including
ceramics—to regenerate bone, muscle, cartilage, and tendons. The session ended
with a plenary talk by Kazushige Ohno of Ibiden Co. (Japan) on advances in diesel
particulate filters. Diesel soot, he says, is the second largest contributor to global
warming after CO2 emissions.
Ž
There was more than the technical program for attendees. Vendors presented their
products and services in
the exposition hall,
where poster sessions,
tasty receptions, and the
annual Schott Glass drop 
competition also were
held. Always looking to the future, organizers planned plenty of events for students and
young professionals, such as the Global Young Investigators Forum, Young Professionals
Network reception, and a mentoring workshop.
The growing number of presentations and activities at ICACC bear witness to the impact
of the event on the field of engineered ceramics and glass. The event brings a significant
amount of business to Daytona Beach and Volusia County every year, too.

1 Plenary speakers (left–right): David Clarke, Sanjay Mathur, Cato Laurencin, and
Kazushige Ohno.
2 Program organizer, Soshu Kirihara from Osaka University, Japan, opens the
conference and welcomes attendees to ICACC’15.
3 Presidential trio (left–right): Marina Pascucci, president 2010–2011; Katherine
Faber, president 2006–2007; and Kathleen Richardson, president 2014–2015.
4 Andrew Gyekenyesi (left), ECD vice chair and treasurer, and Michael Halbig
(right), ECD chair, at the opening reception.
5 Building a drinking straw cage for the Schott Glass drop competition demanded
focused attention. The effort paid off, and this team tied for first place.
‘
6 Typical technical session.
46
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
’
“
The numbers tell the story of this
year’s ICACC, organized by the
Engineering Ceramics Division:
• 39th convening of ICACC;
• 10th year in Daytona Beach;
• 1,100 attendees—a record high;
• 190 students;
• 44 expo vendors;
• 40 countries represented;
• Two second-generation presenters;
• One fire alarm; and
• $1.5 M impact on Florida’s Volusia
County and Daytona Beach economies.
”
•
Next year marks the 40th anniversary of ICACC. Organizers and ECD leaders are planning
a gala jubilee celebration for ICACC’16 that promises to be a fitting reminiscence and
springboard into the future. n
7 A fire alarm provided an impromptu networking session.
8 A customer consults with Thermal Wave Imaging’s Alan Nusbaum.
9 Networking during a break.
10 Marissa Reigel, chair of the Young Professionals Network, outlines YPN opportunities at the
reception for students and young professionals.
Award lecture. The lecture tied fundamental thermodynamic principles to engineering of
nanoscale particles.
Salem, son of Jonathan Salem, presented results from summer internships.
11 Ricardo Castro from the University of California, Davis, gave the Global Young Investigator
12 Dileep Singh (foreground) looks on as a student presents his work at the poster session.
13 “Second generation” ICACC presenters. Shirley Zhu, daughter of Dongming Zhu, and Anton
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
47
(Credit for all photos: ACerS.)
Conference shines the
Florida sun on Electronic
Materials and Applications
Œ
T
he sixth Electronic Materials and Applications conference in
Orlando, Fla., January 21–23, delivered on its promise to address emerging needs, opportunities, and key challenges in
the field of electronic materials and applications. The Electronics
Division and Basic Science Division collaborate on the meeting,
which also serves as their Division meetings.
“
EMA 2015 brought together about 300 students, scientists, and engineers for
excellent technical presentations, events, and networking,” says Shen Dillon of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dillon, Geoff Brennecka of Colorado School of Mines, and Timothy
Haugan of the U.S. Air Force Research Lab organized the meeting.

Brennecka adds, “Once again, EMA brought professionals from
around the globe to share their latest advances and insights.”
Attendees hailed from more than 20 countries and delivered
250-plus presentations detailing the latest electronic materials
and applications
data, providing
rich fodder for
discussions.
Ž


1 In addition to the great science, the scenery was inviting, too.
2 Networking and discussion spilled into the lobby between session
breaks.
3 Christina Rost delivering her first-prize-winning student presentation.
4 ACerS president Kathleen Richardson (middle left) and executive director
Charlie Spahr (middle right) with international attendees Paramjyot Jha
(left) and Manish Kumar (right).
5 Networking with friends and colleagues during EMA’s packed three days.
6 Students sparked interest in their research during the poster session.
7 Taking a chance in between sessions to carry the dialogue into the warm
Florida air.
48
Plenary talks by
Kent Budd of 3M,
Greg Rohrer of
Carnegie Mellon University, and Hiroshi
Funakubo of Tokyo Insitute of Technology drew full audiences to their seats
‘
each morning of the conference. The
talks supplied a daily momentum that continued through presentations in 11 conference
symposia, spanning topics from ceramic composites to computational design to LEDs
and photovoltaics.
Student poster and oral presentations
highlighted diverse work being done by
young scientists, and the conference
continued to support and recognize that
work. “This year EMA selected and highlighted Young Professional Network speakers
in nearly every symposia and provided them
with registration support,” Haugan says.
“The conference continues to emphasize
student participation—approximately 20%
attendees are usually students.”
The last day of the conference wrapped
up with a special—and unique—session.
Speakers Ian Reaney of the University
’
of Sheffield and Brennecka shared their
familiarities with failure in the laboratory, detailing stories that elicited laughs and nods of
relatability from across the audience. As Reaney put it, “It’s not if, but when, you get things
wrong.” It is ultimately how you move forward from those wrongs that can make it all right. n
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
April Gocha
book review
Associate editor
Stuff Matters:
Exploring the
marvelous materials
that shape our
man-made world
by Mark Miodownik
Mark Miodownik has one sincere
message: Stuff really matters.
Miodownik, a science communicator
and materials science and engineering
professor at University College London,
echoes that message through his passion
for materials in the book Stuff Matters.
The book is not an entirely technical nor comprehensive history, dissection, or explanation of materials,
but rather an entertaining meander
through the everyday world, exploring
materials along the way. Stuff Matters
is a good introduction to, or reminder
of, the world of materials science by
connecting stuff to its recognizable
place in the world.
“The material world is not just a display of our technology and culture, it is
part of us,” Miodownik reflects in the
book. “We invented it, we made it, and,
in turn, it makes us who we are.”
By directly connecting materials to
our lives, the book becomes a compelling champion for the wonder and
importance of materials. It removes the
abstraction, instead inserting an emotional, personal connection to materials.
Miodownik uses a simple—yet carefully articulated—photograph of himself
sitting on the rooftop of his flat to illustrate the wonders of 10 materials present
in the photograph.
Miodownik writes in the book’s introduction, “For each [material] I try to
uncover the desire that brought it into
being, I decode the materials science
Mark Miodownik, author of Stuff Matters,
examining stuff.
behind it, I marvel at our technological
prowess in being able to make it, but most
of all I try to express why it matters.”
Those 10 materials, each with a
descriptor that doubles as chapter title,
are steel (indominatable), paper (trusted), concrete (fundamental), chocolate
(delicious), foam (marvelous), plastic
(imaginative), glass (invisible), graphite
(unbreakable), porcelain (refined), and a
biomedical implant (immortal).
Miodownik continues in the introduction, “Each new chapter presents not
just a different material but a different
way of looking at it—some take a primarily historical perspective, others a more
personal one; some are conspicuously
dramatic, others more coolly scientific;
some emphasize a material’s cultural life,
others its astonishing technical abilities.”
Without being abstract, Miodownik
explores the microscopic and macroscop-
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
ic world of materials science to explain
why each material is unique—and special.
To aid these explanations, the book is
dotted with hand-drawn figures and
diagrams, making the science accessible,
the concepts clear, and the story overall
entertaining.
In the end, Miodownik philosophizes
about chocolate, reminisces with paper,
and awes over ceramics. His enthusiasm and awe shine through the prose,
making the book a light and easy read.
Although the book meanders a bit, this
style also plays into its informality—the
reader almost feels as if she is sitting on
the rooftop with Miodownik, letting
him babble excitedly about each material
around him.
Stuff Matters is an entertaining introduction to the utility of materials for
anyone unfamiliar with materials science. For those more familiar, it is easy
and entertaining, a good reminder of
the field’s broad purpose, and an inspiration for how to effectively talk about
materials science to nonexperts. n
49
new products
Static mixer
R
Air chiller system
T
A Instrument’s ACS-3 air chiller
system is a gas flow cooling system
equipped with a three-stage cascading
compressor design that enables testing
to temperatures as low as –100°C. The
chiller helps eliminate or reduce liquid
nitrogen usage and offers a return on
investment estimated between two to
three years.
TA Instruments (New Castle, Del.)
www.tainstruments.com
302-427-4000
Microspectrophotometer
C
raic Technologies’ 20/30 Perfect
Vision microspectrophotometer
acquires Raman spectra, with multiple laser
wavelengths, in addition to UV-visible-NIR
absorbance, reflectance, fluorescence, and
emission microspectra. The equipment can
acquire images of microscopic samples in
the UV, visible, and NIR regions from the
same area using proprietary optical aperturing technology.
Craic Technologies Inc.
(San Dimas, Calif.)
www.microspectra.com
1-877-UV-CRAIC
A
D
eltech’s new horizontal tube design
furnaces are true benchtop units.
They are lighter in weight and more
compact, requiring a smaller footprint.
A top plug provides access to the furnace interior. Furnaces are available in
process lengths up to 305 mm and will
accommodate tubes up to 76 mm O.D.
Deltech Inc. (Denver, Colo.)
www.deltechfurnaces.com
303-433-5939
50
Charles Ross & Son Co.
(Hauppauge, N.Y.)
www.mixers.com
1-800-243-ROSS
Tube sleeve
Piezo nanopositioner
Tube furnace
oss’s LPD and LLPD static mixers
promote composition and temperature uniformity by increasing turbulence
while keeping pressure loss low. LPD
mixers have a series of semielliptical
plates set 90 degrees to each other, while
LLPD mixers have plates at 120 degrees
for lower pressure drops. During turbulent flow, the plates enhance random
motion of molecules and formation of
eddies.
erotech’s
QNP-L series linear
piezo nanopositioning stages give nanometer-level performance in a compact, highstiffness package for applications ranging
from microscopy to optics alignment.
Stages are guided by precision flexures
optimized using finite-element analysis for
high process throughput and fast closedloop response. Stages offer closed-loop
feedback using a capacitive sensor design
that yields subnanometer positioning resolution and high linearity.
Aerotech Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
www.aerotech.com
412-963-7470
W
ells
Lamont’s
cut-resistant tube
sleeve provides ANSI
Level 4 cut resistance
and flame resistance. The
two-ply sleeves are made
from Kevlar and other highperformance materials to provide superior comfort and protection. Sleeves are reusable and are
made to withstand multiple launderings.
They are available in multiple sizes with
or without a thumb hole.
Wells Lamont Industrial (Niles, Ill.)
www.wellslamontindustrial.com
1-800-247-3295
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
resources
Calendar of events
March 2015
21–23 Deco ‘15: New Discoveries in
17–21 ACerS GOMD–DGG Joint
Annual Meeting – Miami, Fla.; www.
ceramics.org
September 2015
15–18 UNITECR 2015 – Hofburg
24–26 ACerS St. Louis Section and
23–26 ITSC 2015: Int’l Thermal Spray
Conference and Exposition – Long
Beach Convention Center, Long Beach,
Calif.; www.asminternational.org/web/
itsc-2015/home
20–23 Int’l Commission on Glass Annual
Meeting – Centara Grand at CentralWorld,
Bangkok, Thailand; www.icglass.org
Decorating– Columbus, Ohio; www.sgcd.org
Refractory Ceramics Division Joint Meeting
– St. Louis, Mo.; www.ceramics.org
April 2015
12–17 UHTCIII: Ultra-High
Temperature Ceramics – Materials for
Extreme Environment Applications
III – Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast,
Queensland, Australia; www.engconf.org
16 2015 Toledo Glass and Ceramic
Award Dinner and Presentation – Toledo
Club, Toledo, Ohio
20–23 Int’l Conference and Exhibition
on Ceramic Interconnect and Ceramic
Microsystems Technologies – Fraunhofer
Institute Center, Dresden, Germany;
http://www.ikts.fraunhofer.de/en/
Events/cicmt_2015.html
20–24 42nd Int’l Conference on
Metallurgical Coatings and Thin Films
– San Diego, Calif.; www2.avs.org/conferences/icmctf
28–30 Ceramics Expo 2015 – I-X
Center, Cleveland, Ohio; www.
ceramicsexpousa.com
May 2015
4–6 Clay 2015: Structural Clay
Products Division Meeting in conjunction
with National Brick Research Center –
Denver, Colo.; www.ceramics.org
11–14 Microstrucutral Characterization
of Aerospace Materials and Coatings –
Long Beach Convention Center, Long
Beach, Calif.; www.asminternational.
org/web/ims-2015/home
17 ACerS Art, Archaeology, and
Conservation Science Division Workshop,
“What’s New in Ancient Glass Research”
– Hyatt Regency Miami, Miami, Fla.;
www.ceramics.org/gomd-dgg
Congress Center, Vienna, Austria;
www.unitecr2015.org
19–25 The XIV Int’l Conference on
June 2015
the Physics of Non-Crystalline Solids–
14–19 CMCEE: 11th Int’l Symposium on Niagara Falls, N.Y.; PNCS-XIV.com
Ceramic Materials and Components for
Energy and Environmental Applications
– Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada; www.ceramics.org
21–25 ECerS 2015: 14th Int’l
Conference of the European Ceramic
Society – Toledo, Spain; www.
ecers2015.org
30–July 3 5th European PEFC & H2
Forum 2015 – Culture and Convention
Centre, Lucerne, Switzerland; www.
EFCF.com
July 2015
7–10
ICCCI2015: 5th Int’l HighQuality Advanced Materials Conference
– Fujiyoshida City, Japan; http://
ceramics.ynu.ac.jp/iccci2015/index.html
20–22 Cements Division Annual
Meeting – Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kan.; www.ceramics.org
October 2015
4–8 MS&T15, combined with
ACerS 117th Annual Meeting – Greater
Columbus Convention Center,
Columbus, Ohio; www.matscitech.org
20–23 CERAMITEC 2015 – Messe
Munich, Munich, Germany; www.
ceramitec.de
November 2015
2–5 76th GPC: 76th Conference on
Glass Problems – Greater Columbus
Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio;
www.glassproblemsconference.org
May 2016
18–22 WBC2016: 10th World
Biomaterials Congress– Montreal,
Canada; www.wbc2016.org
26–31 SOFC-XIV: 14th Int’l Symposium
on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells – Glasgow,
Scotland; www.electrochem.org/meetings/satellite/glasgow/
August 2015
23–26 COM 2015: 54th Annual
Dates in RED denote new entry in
this issue.
Conference of Metallurgists – Toronto,
Ontario, Canada; www.metsoc.org
Entries in BLUE denote ACerS
events.
30–September 4
PACRIM 11:
11th Pacific Rim Conference on Ceramic
and Glass Technology – JeJu Island,
Korea; www.ceramics.org
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
denotes meetings that ACerS
cosponsors, endorses, or otherwise cooperates in organizing.
51
Career Opportunities
The German Aerospace Centre (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.,
DLR) is the national aeronautics and space research centre of the Federal Republic
of Germany. DLR has approximately 7800 employees and its extensive research
and development work in aeronautics, space, energy, transport and security is
integrated into national and international cooperative ventures. DLR´s research
portfolio ranges from fundamental research to the development of innovative
applications and products of tomorrow.
RWTH Aachen and DLR invite applications for the position of
Full professor (W2)
“Ceramic Composite Materials for
Aeronautics and Space Applications”
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for the DLR-Institute for Materials Research at the DLR-site in Cologne.
The successful applicant will be appointed as a University Professor at the RWTH
Aachen and at the same time granted leave in order to head the DLR Research
Department.
RWTH Aachen and DLR intend to intensify their collaboration with respect to
research and teaching in the area of fibre reinforced ceramics and increase the
common usage of resources. Hence, we are looking for a personality with excellent scientific qualifications in the area of structural ceramics with a specific focus
on ceramic matrix composites capable to represent this topic in the teaching
curriculum of the RWTH Aachen. Lectures in the amount of two hours per week
and excellent teaching and didactic qualifications are expected. The application
documents must therefore include a list of successfully taught courses. Habilitation
or equivalent scientific experience in the area of structural ceramics, especially
ceramic composite materials, is expected.
At the DLR-Institute for Materials Research the successful applicant assumes
responsibility for the scientific direction, organization, economic success and the
personnel of the department “Structural and Functional Ceramics”. Together
with more than 15 scientists and technicians he/she further develops the research
focus of the department in line with the strategy of the DLR and the institute. The
scientific topics include material development and synthesis, characterization of
materials, simulation of component and damage behaviour and the development
of processes to manufacture prototype components for rig tests. Apart from
technical and scientific skills applicants are expected to have a formal education
and proven track record in leadership and management of scientific and technical
employees. In addition to its scientific excellence the institute is striving to intensify the transfer of the research results into industrial products. The successful
candidate is therefore expected to have a proven track record of successfully
acquiring and executing collaborations with partners from industry and academia
and to have access to an extensive network of partners relevant for our research
topics. Ideally he/she has industrial working experience in Germany as well as
abroad.
Please send your application to: Prof. Dr. Heinz Voggenreiter, Institut für WerkstoffForschung, Linder Höhe, 51147 Köln, Germany. Deadline for applications:
April 17, 2015.
The RWTH Aachen and the DLR particularly welcome and encourage applications
from women, disabled persons and ethnic minority groups, recognizing they are
underrepresented across RWTH Aachen and the DLR. The principles of fair and
open competition apply and appointments will be made on merit.
52
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MArch 2015
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American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2 | www.ceramics.org
52
Call for Contributing
Editors for aCErs-nist
PhasE Equilibria
diagrams Program
Professors, researchers,
retirees, Post-docs, and
graduate students ...
The General Editors
of the reference series
Phase Equilibria Diagrams
are in need of individuals
from the ceramics community to critically evaluate
published articles containing
phase equilibria diagrams.
Additional contributing editors
are needed to edit new phase
diagrams and write short commentaries to accompany each phase
diagram being added to the reference
series. Especially needed are persons
knowledgeable in foreign languages
including German, French, Russian,
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rECognition:
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qualifiCations:
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55
deciphering the discipline
Having an internship in the ceramics
industry allowed me to see firsthand the
importance, as well as the complexity, of
the relationship between technology and
policy—and it showed me that I wanted
to learn more. This past summer, I had
the opportunity to do just that as an
intern with the United States House
Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology in Washington, D.C. I have
been interested in politics for much of
my life, so an internship in the nation’s
capital was a dream come true.
The University of Virginia’s Policy
Internship Program of the School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences,
which matches engineering students
with policy internships, gave me the
resources and encouragement to pursue
this longtime goal by matching me with
the House Science Committee. The
committee has jurisdiction over nondefense federal scientific R&D, which
includes agencies such as the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), and National Science
Foundation (NSF).
Science Committee hearings serve as
a forum for policy makers and scientists
to discuss relevant issues. Science and
policy have a close relationship, so the
involved parties must communicate and
work together to develop outcomes that
are appealing to both sectors. On average, the committee held two hearings
per week relating to programs or issues
in its jurisdiction. Throughout the summer I attended hearings and bill markups and worked on research projects
to help committee members and staff
prepare for the hearings. Sitting in on
56
Guest columnist
International Space Station. Committee
congressional hearings and
being a part of the process
was a thrilling experience,
and I learned more than I
ever could have imagined.
Funding is often the
hot topic at committee hearings, but there
are other fundamental
issues at stake as well.
Conversations often
center on the role of the
government (especially
federal funds) in research,
whether funds should
support basic or applied
research, and who should
be able to benefit from
the results. Similarly,
there often is debate
about the transparency of
research that is federally
funded or majorly affects
the public. Conversations
focused on this issue dur- Elise Poerschke poses with Bill Nye the Science Guy.
ing H.R. 4012, the Secret
members were eager to ask questions,
Science Reform Act of 2014 that
passed through the committee in June. and some shared their excitement by
asking constituents to submit questions.
The bill requires that all scientific and
technical information used by the EPA Both events served as a reminder of the
importance of scientific exploration
to support rules and regulations be
by underscoring its ability to unite,
publically available online. If signed
inspire, and spark curiosity of people
into law, this bill will have major
from across party lines. Although not
implications for EPA policymakers
immune to partisanship, science and
and scientists.
engineering can bring people together
Aside from research projects and
and remind them of the wonder of
committee events, I attended other
briefings and lectures over the summer.
scientific discovery.
The Planetary Society held an event,
featuring NASA chief scientist Ellen
Elise Poerschke is a senior underStofan and Bill Nye the Science Guy,
about the future of exploring Europa. In graduate at the University of Virginia.
response to questions about the purpose She is involved with research in
Elizabeth Opila’s high-temperature
and potential gain from missions like
materials lab group in the Materials
the one to Europa, Nye said, “We don’t
Science and Engineering Department.
know. That’s why we’re looking!”
Outside of school and research,
A few weeks later, the Science
Poerschke enjoys teaching adaptive
Committee held a live downlink
skiing. n
with two astronauts currently on the
Credit: Elise Poerschke
For science’s sake:
My selfie with
Bill Nye
Elise Poerschke
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 94, No. 2
matscitech.org
Greater Columbus Convention Center | Columbus, Ohio USA
October 4 – 8, 2015
Technical Meeting and Exposition
call for papers
Abstracts due March 31, 2015
The technical program covers:
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