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bulletine m e r g i n g c e r a m i c s & g l a s s t e c h
n o l o g y
April 2013
A M E r i C A N C E r A M i C S O C i E T Y
New paradigm: Field-assisted sintering
Ceramic property data in the Internet age
Indian Ceramic Society and ACerS sign pact
Meeting previews: PACRIM, GOMD, UNITECR, Structural Clay
Products Division
MAX phases: Bridging the gap between metals and ceramics
-
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x1American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
www.ceramics.org
contentsA p r i l 2 0 1 3 V o l . 9 2 N o . 3
cover storyMicrostructure of Ti2AlC, one of the MAX
phases.(Credit: Radovic and Benitez, TAMU.)
page 20
feature articlesMAX phases: Bridging the gap between metals and
ceramics . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Miladin Radovic and Michel W.
Barsoum This exciting class of carbides and nitrides have
remarkable properties that bridge the gap between metals and
ceramics and offer fundamentally new ways to tune structure and
properties for emerging applications.
New paradigm prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Peter Wray Could
sintering under an electric field be a new paradigm for ceramics
processing? In this inter-view, Rishi Raj explains field-assisted
sintering technology, how Hans Conrad discovered it, and how it
might revolutionize manufacturing.
Current availability of ceramic property data and future
opportunities . . . . 34Steve Freiman and John Rumble The authors
present the case for establishing a single portal for accessing
ceramic property data based on their year-long study of databases
and work with data users. A compilation of ceramic property data
resources is included.
meetingsPACRIM 10, including GOMD 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 40Plenary speakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
41Darshana and Arun Varshneya Frontiers of Glass Science Lecture .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Tentative schedule of events
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Hotel information . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Short courses . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Symposia schedule . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 43
UNITECR 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Keynote and
plenary speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Schedule at a glance
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Technical program . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Hotel information . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Short courses . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Highlights from the 37th International Conference &
Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Failure-induced success at Electronic Materials and Applications
meeting in Orlando . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
50
departmentsNews & Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 3 White House calls for increased access to federally funded
research results Business news University of Bremen is hiring to
launch its C4.5M MIMENIMA porous advanced ceramic effort New $2.5M
landmark conservation science institute to be established for the
arts Gordon Research Conferences 2013 schedule Billions in federal
R&D recovery monies still on the table in the US?
ACerS and Indian Ceramic Society sign Memorandum of
Understanding (Credit: ACerS)
page 11
ceramics in the environmentInternal curing of concrete
structures(Credit: Andy Hancock, Purdue University.)
page 18
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2 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92,
No. 3
ACerS Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Welcome
to our newest Corporate Members! Hench to receive Michigan/NW Ohio
Section Award Last chance to submit nominations for the new Du-Co
awards Ceramic Education Council strengthens universityindustry
bond ACerS and Indian Ceramic Society sign Memorandum of
Understanding Ceramic Tech Today PCSA begins year six, expands to
31 delegates and adds Outreach Committee Names in the news In
Memoriam
Research Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Multidisciplinary approaches to materials discovery needed for
Materials Genome Initiative
Ceramics in Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Trucking
solar energyU. Delaware team dissociates zinc oxide in solar
reactor to make solar fuel
Advances in Nanomaterials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Nanoporous
molybdenum nitride supercapacitor electrodes
Ceramics in the Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Internal curing
standards and recent work on extending life of concrete structures
Flowerpot like ceramic filters purify water for drinking,
cooking
resourcesNew Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Calendar .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Classified Advertising . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 53Display Advertising Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
contentsA p r i l 2 0 1 3 V o l . 9 2 N o . 3bulletin
AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY
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American Ceramic Society Bulletin covers news and activities of
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concerning all aspects of ceramic technology, including R&D,
manufacturing, engineering and marketing.
American Ceramic Society Bulletin (ISSN No. 0002-7812). 2013.
Printed in the United States of America. ACerS Bulletin is
published monthly, except for February, July and November, as a
dual-media magazine in print and electronic format
(www.ceramicbulletin.org).
Editorial and Subscription Offices: 600 North Cleveland Avenue,
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POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to American Ceramic
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Periodical postage paid at Westerville, Ohio, and additional
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ACSBA7, Vol. 92, No. 3, pp 156. All feature articles are covered
in Current Contents.
OfficersRichard Brow, PresidentDavid Green,
President-electGeorge Wicks, Past PresidentTed Day TreasurerCharles
Spahr, Executive Director
Board of Directors Keith Bowman, Director 20122015Elizabeth
Dickey, Director 20122015William Fahrenholtz, Director
20092013Vijay Jain, Director 20112014William Lee, Director
20102013Ivar Reimanis, Director 20112014Lora Cooper Rothen,
Director 20112014Robert Schwartz, Director 20102013Mrityunjay (Jay)
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Address600 North Cleveland Avenue, Suite 210 Westerville, OH
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Corrections to the March ACerS Bulletin
ACerS launches new Arts, Archaeology, and Conservation Science
Division, p. 12. Marc Walton is employed by the Getty Conservation
Institute, a standalone department operating under the Getty
Trust.
Transparent polycrystalline cubic spinels protect and defend, p.
20. The densities of the laminates in Figure 5 are areal density
values.
New opportunities for transparent ceramics, p. 32. The
illumination in Figure 4 is 254-nanometer UV instead of
245-nanometer UV.
-
3American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
www.ceramics.org
White House calls for increased access to federally funded
research results
In February, the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP) issued a memo to the heads of executive departments
and federal agencies instructing them to develop a plan to increase
the publics access to the fruits of federally funded research, in
particular, publications and digital data.
The request applies to all federal agencies that support more
than $100 million in annual R&D.
Besides making taxpayer-funded research results available to the
tax-payer, the OSTP hopes that govern-ment-funded scientific
research will spur innovation. It claims that research results are
grist for new insights and are assets for progress in areas such
as
health, energy, the environ-ment, agricul-ture, and nation-al
security.
OSTPs objective is to provide public access to unclas-sified
research published in peer-reviewed journals and to digital-format
scientific data.
The agencies have six months to draft a plan. They are
encour-aged to work together to develop compatible plans and to
solicit input from stakeholders,
including universities, libraries, princi-pal investigators,
publishers, and societ-ies (such as ACerS).
OSTP clearly and explicitly says there will be no additional
funding to implement the plans.
The memo stipulates the following requirements:
A strategy for leveraging exist-ing archives, where appropriate,
and fostering publicprivate partnerships with scientific journals
relevant to the agencys research;
A strategy for improving the pub-lics ability to locate and
access digital data resulting from federally funded scientific
research;
An approach for optimizing search, archival, and dissemination
features that encourages innovation in accessi-bility and
interoperability, while ensur-ing long-term stewardship of the
results of federally funded research;
A plan for notifying awardees and other federally funded
scientific researchers of their obligations (e.g., through
guidance, conditions of awards, and/or regulatory changes);
An agency strategy for measuring
news & trends
Business newsAGCs large-sized, chemically strength-
ened Dragontrail enables efficient pro-duction of thinner
touchscreens (www.agc.com)American Vanadium and Gildemeister join
to deliver energy stor-age solutions (www.americanvanadium.com;
www.gildemeister.com)Cabot launches first graphene-based addi-tive
to improve energy density of Li-ion batteries
(www.investor.cabot-corp.com)Unifrax announces acquisition deal
(www.unifrax.com)Around the world of ceramics in eight minutes:
CeramTec launches additional international web-sites
(www.ceramtec.com)Freeman Technology to present new research on the
impact of humidity on powders at Powtech 2013
(www.freemantech.co.uk)RAK reaches 50 million milestone
(www.menafn.com)PPG glass requests for LEED documentation surpass
1,000 (www.ppg.com)CeramTec expands
Marktredwitz site; Ceramics Group to invest 80M in existing
plant (www.ceramtec.com)ClearEdge completes purchase of UTC Power
(www.clearedgepower.com)Thermal Technology ships 14 K1 sapphire
crystal growers to Europe (www.thermaltechnology.com)HED works with
GE, Rutgers engineers on new rotary furnaces for processing
nanopowders (www.hed.com)Mettler Toledo intro-duces new Excellence
dynamic mechani-cal analyzer (www.us.mt.com)AVXs new
AEC-Q200-qualified Skycap capaci-tors: Ideal for high-voltage
automotive applications (www.avx.com)Aggressive Grinding appoints
Tom Shearer general manager (www.ags-fast.com)Plasma-sprayed
ceramics enable use of compos-ites in high-temperature environments
on Aston Martin One-77 (www.theautochannel.com n
(Cre
dit:
Offi
cial
Whi
te H
ouse
Pho
to;
Pet
e S
ouza
.)
The White House hopes to increase innovation in industry and
manu-facturing, in part, by making federally funded scientific
research results easier to access. Here, President Barack Obama
listens to Jeffrey Brower and Dwayne Moore explain the machining of
the axle components made for Caterpillars large mining trucks
during a tour of the Linamar Corp. auto-parts plant in Arden, N.C,
Feb. 13, 2013.
-
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92,
No. 34
news & trends
and, as necessary, enforcing compliance with its plan;
Identification of resources within the existing agency budget to
imple-ment the plan;
A timeline for implementation; and Identification of any special
circum-
stances that prevent the agency from meeting any of the
objectives set out in the memorandum, in whole or in part.
The government recognizes the value added by the scientific
publishing indus-try, including the coordination of peer review ...
for ensuring the high quality and integrity of many scholarly
publica-tions. The government appears to be making an effort to
keep the requirements reasonable. Indeed, some in the scholarly
publishing blogoshphere describe the new policy as a fair and
sustainable policy that offers much to the public good and a
reasonable step forward.
The devil will be in the details of open access (OA). In
addition to the explicit absence of a budget, chal-lenges to
address in the coming months include the possibility of multiple OA
systems, the reality of many federal agencies that are affected,
and the exis-tence of many scientific disciplines.
Publishers will have a much easier time complying if the OA
plans end up being a one size fits all. n
University of Bremen is hiring to launch its C4.5M MIMENIMA
porous advanced ceramic effort
The University of Bremen (Germany) announced that it received
C4.5 million for a project to tailor porous advanced ceramics for
applica-tions in energy, environmental, chemi-
cal engineering, and space technology.The project is called
MIMENIMA
an acronym for microporous, meso-porous, and macroporous
nonmetallic materials.
According to a university news release, Eight interdisciplinary
research groups are involved in this initiative, and we are very
excited to go signifi-
New $2.5M landmark conservation science institute to be
established for the artsThe Chicago Art Institute and
Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) received a $2.5
million, six-year grant from the Mellon Foundation to establish an
institute dedicated to conservation science. The NUArt Institute of
Chicago Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts (NU-ACCESS) is
the first of its type in the United States. It is the direct fruit
of work by Katherine Faber (Walter P. Murphy professor of materials
science and engineering) and Francesca Casadio (Andrew W. Mellon
senior conservation scientist at the Chicago Art Institute). Their
art-and-science collaboration began in 2004 when they launched an
ad-hoc museumNU partnership.
According to a NU press release, the new center will serve as a
collab-orative hub, facilitating interdisciplin-ary research
partnerships in art studies and conservation on a national
scale.
NU-ACCESS will be located at NU and eventually will be staffed
by a senior scientist and two postdoc-toral fellows. An example of
the type
of work NU-ACCESS will engage in is contained in a recent paper
by Casadio and coauthor Volker Rose, a physicist at the Argonne
National Lab, published in Applied Physics A
(doi:10.1007/s00339-012-7534-x). The paper, for the first time,
docu-ments that Pablo Picasso eventually
used common house paint in many of his works, such as his The
Red Chair painting on display in the Art Institute. Casadio and
Rose used the hard X-ray nanoprobe at the Advanced Photon Source
facility at Argonne National Laboratory. n
Art Institute of Chicago art conservation scientist, Francesca
Casadio, describes to delegates at the 2012 ICC4 meeting a project
that investigated enamel paints used in Pablo Picassos The Red
Chair. Casadio and Katherine Faber are setting up a new
conservation science research hub in Chicago.
(Cre
dit:
AC
erS
.)
-
5American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
www.ceramics.org
cantly beyond the state-of-the-art, says Kurosch Rezwan, the
spokesperson of the MIMENIMA research train-ing group (RTG) and a
professor of advanced ceramics at the university. Rezwan is a
member of ACerS and is affiliated with the Societys Engineering
Ceramics Division.
The scope of the project includes Materials development;
Functional, porous ceramics for
biotechnological applications; Adjustment of polymer-derived
ceramics for the transport of cryogenic liquid;
Monolithic catalysts of porous rare-earth oxides (REOs);
Process analysis; Nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) methods for the characterization of mass transport in
porous materials;
Structural characterization of mes-oporous layers using light
scattering;
Basic research experiments for mass transport in porous
materials;
Deep-bed filtration in real porous structurescombination of
micro com-puted tomography and NMR;
Investigation of dielectrophoretic effects in porous
structures;
Modeling and simulation; Mechanical properties of porous
ceramicscombination of in-situ X-ray tomography (XRT) and
finite-element simulation to develop microstructurally based
failure criteria;
Formulation of multiple fluidfluid dispersions by micromembranes
(pre-mix encapsulation);
Special applications; Application of porous ceramics
for the handling of cryogenic media in space; and
Monolithic catalysts of graded porosity.
MIMENIMA will use NMR for spa-tial analysis of the liquid-phase
distribu-tion and dynamic flow processes and XRT for quantitative
analysis of the ceramic structure. RTG predicts that, second only
to material conditioning, systematic combination of NMR and
XRT is a major integrated focus of the research project.
To meet the new research opportu-nities connected to the
MIMENIMA effort, the RTG says it is looking for at least 11
excellent PhD candidates
[from] all over the world.MIMENIMA is one of 23 new RTGs
the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced last November.
The DFG already funded 226 RTGs, includ-ing 48 international
groups. n
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-
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92,
No. 36
Gordon Research Conferences 2013 schedule
The Gordon Research Conferences 2013 catalog is available at
www.grc.org. It includes descriptions of each conference as well as
dates, locations, and organizers. The website has instruc-tions for
applying for an invitation.
The next installment of the long-running Solid State Studies in
Ceramics will be in 2014. The ACerS Basic Science Division
traditionally supports the ceramics GRC.
Meanwhile, these 2013 conferences overlap with the ceramics
communitys interests:
Clusters, Nanocrystals, and NanostructuresFrom Fundamental
Chemical and Physical Processes to Application;
Electron Distribution and Chemical BondingPushing the
Limits of Experimental and Theoretical Charge and Spin Density
Studies;
High-Temperature CorrosionSolution for Energy Issues and Future
Role in High-Temperature Processes;
Nanomechanical InterfacesMultiphysics Theory and Experiments;
and
Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory. n
news & trends
Billions in federal R&D recovery monies still on the table
in the US?In January, the European
Commission announced the award of about C1 billion (~$1.35
billion) to support focused research on graphene. The effort will
span about 200 institu-tions in more than 15 EU member states, with
the mandate to deliver 10 years of world-beating science.
That is a sizeable investment. But, for perspective, consider
that about $7 billion in science-related Recovery Act monies remain
unspent on the books in Washington, D.C., according the Obama
administrations Recovery.gov website (click the Where is the money
going? tab, and select Recipient and Agency Data).The website
provides weekly updates, agency-by-agency, on the spending of the
American Recover and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds.
The $7-billion figure assumes that most of the ARRA science
fund-ing is contained in the Department of Energy and the National
Science Foundation. The website shows that DOE has not paid out
about $6.29
billion (17.5 percent of its total ARRA alloca-tion). Likewise,
NSF has not paid out more than $600 million (20.5 percent of its
alloca-tion). The amount might be greater if other agencies, such
as DOD are included.
One apparent reason for the inertia is that, for example, 86
DOE-approved projects have not even begun, and 368 are less than 50
percent com-pleted. The NSF has 23 projects not started and 190
that have not passed their halfway mark.
Some reasonable delays were expect-ed in getting proposals
vetted and in getting projects ramped up. However, the point of the
ARRA was to pump money into the affected sectors quickly. Even the
DOE understood from the beginning that the idea was to provide
a rapid stimulus to science and engi-neering.
Following the EU model, can we not find and fund with several
billion dollars one or two strategic grand chal-lenges to deliver
10 years of world-beating science in the US? Imagine what $2
billion in focused funding for the Materials Genome Initiative
could do! n
(Sou
rce:
Rec
over
y.go
v.)
DOEs Recovery Act project status as of Feb. 13, 2013. More than
$6 billion is still unspent.
(Cre
dit:
Mt.
Hol
yoke
Col
lege
; Fa
ceb
ook.
)
The 2013 Gordon Research Conference schedule is now available.
Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., will host the ceramics
Gordon Research Conferencebut not until 2014.
-
7American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
www.ceramics.org
Hench to receive Michigan/NW Ohio Section award
Larry Hench will receive the 2013 Toledo Glass & Ceramic
Award of the Michigan/NW Ohio Section of The American Ceramic
Society.
The award is pre-sented to Hench in recognition of his
outstanding service and leadership in promoting glass as a
remarkable mate-rial. Hench is an eminent scholar in the field of
glass science. He is known internationally for his seminal work on
glass-ceramics and education. Bioglass, the result of his work, is
the first arti-ficial material to bond to living tissue and is the
foundation for second-gener-ation biomaterials and bioactive
glasses and ceramics. These materials are used
worldwide to repair bones and teeth, and they are the active
ingredient in a new best-selling toothpaste.
Hench graduated from The Ohio State University. His summer work
at Owens-Illinois in Toledo, Ohio, started his career in glass and
provided the basis of his later glass-ceramics research. He
conducted research and taught at the University of Florida for 32
years. Hench retired as emeri-tus professor to accept the chair of
Ceramic Materials at the Imperial College London, University of
London. There he cofounded and codirected for 10 years the Tissue
Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Centre. Hench retired from
Imperial College as emeri-tus professor of Ceramic Materials.
Hench currently holds positions at Florida Gulf Coast
University, University of Central Florida, and Florida Institute of
Technology. He is
acers spotlightWelcome to our newest Corporate Members!
ACerS recognizes organizations that have joined the Society as
Corporate Members. For more information on becoming a Corporate
Member, con-tact Tricia Freshour at [email protected], or
visit ACerS special Corporate Member web page,
www.ceramics.org/corporate.
Materials Systems Inc.Littleton, Mass.
www.matsysinc.com
TAM CeramicsNiagara Falls, N.Y.
www.tamceramics.com
Premier Ceramic IndustriesNew Delhi, India
www.premiercera.com
Mysore Stoneware Pipes andPotteries Ltd
Bangalore, Indiawww.mysorestonewarepipesand-
potteriesltd1.getit.in
USA Texas General Ceramics LLCDallas, Texas
www.advanceceramics.com
Hench
justaddharper.com
C U S T O M R O T A R Y F U R N A C E S
For solutions made from scratch,
Just add Harper.
12435 Solutions Sq ad_Acers.indd 1 9/10/12 1:13 PM
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8 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92,
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acers spotlight
the author or coauthor of many techni-cal articles and books and
the childrens book series Boing Boing the Bionic Cat.
Hench is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, has
received the ACerS W.D. Kingery Award, and is a Fellow and
Distinguished Life Member of ACerS. He was the Glass and Optical
Materials Divisions Stookey Lecture of Discovery Award recipient in
2008.
The award presentation is Thursday, April 18, 2013, at the
Toledo Club. A social hour with cash bar begins at 6:00 p.m., and
dinner begins at 7:00 p.m. Hench will provide remarks on The Story
of Bioglass: From O-I to OR!
Contact: Janet Bailey at [email protected]; telephone:
248-348-6585; or Fred Stover at [email protected]. n
EMA expands student poster and talk awardsBy Geoff Brennecka
By all accounts, the 2013 Electronic Materials and Applications
meeting was the largest and best yet. This hap-pened in part
because of the exceptional contributions of the
students who attended the meeting. This years poster session
grew to 27 posters of which 12 were from students participat-ing in
the best poster competition. Almost 40 talks were delivered by
(most-ly graduate) students during the three-day meeting. The
undergraduate-focused lunchtime symposium organized by the
ACerS Presidents Council of Student Advisors was a resounding
success with all three speakers delivering well-pol-ished talks
about their impressive under-graduate research.
For many years, the ACerS Electronics Division has awarded the
best student presentations with certifi-cates and $250 checks to
help the win-ners celebrate (or buy books). This year, the Division
officers voted to expand the awards from one best poster and one
best talk to the top three of each cat-egory ($250/$150/$100). With
so many entries, the Divisions awards committee would have been
unable to accomplish their task of assigning winners without the
assistance of 20 additional review-ersmany thanks to all of you for
your assistance! Posters and talks were judged based on technical
content, visual impact and clarity, and responses to questions from
the audience.
The poster winners and their titles were announced during the
EMA ban-quet:
First placeJonathan Mackey, University of Akron, Analytic
Thermoelectric Device Optimization;
Second placeAli Henriques, University of Florida, Structural
Changes in Lead Zirconate Titanate due to High Neutron Radiation
Exposure; and
Third placeMichelle Nolan, University of Florida, Phase
Equilibria, Crystallographic Structure, and Piezoelectric
Properties of Tetragonal Pb(11.5x)SmxZr(1y)TiyO3.
The poster judging was close, but it was nowhere as close as the
race for the best talks. Determination of the final rankings of the
speakers required multiple rounds of conversations among the judges
and the awards committee. Requests for additional details and
head-to-head com-parisons slowly whittled down the field of
entrants. The awards committee would have been proud to present
awards to all of the top seven talks.
The talk winners and their titles also were announced during the
EMA banquet:
First placeChris Shelton, North
Brennecka
Last chance to submit nominations for the new Du-Co
awardsAlthough January 15th was the deadline for most Society award
nominations
that will be presented at MS&T 2013, please note the
following awards have later deadlines.
April 1st
Du-Co Ceramics Scholarship AwardThis $3,000 scholarship is
awarded to an undergraduate student pursing a
degree in ceramic/materials science or engineering.Du-Co
Ceramics Young Professional AwardThis $1,500 honorarium is awarded
to a young professional member of ACerS
who demonstrates exceptional leadership and service to
ACerS.April 15th
CEC Outstanding Educator AwardThis award recognizes outstanding
work and creativity in teaching, in direct-
ing student research, or in the general educational process of
ceramic educators.June 30th
GOMD Alfred R. Cooper Scholars AwardThis award recognizes
undergraduate students who have demonstrated excel-
lence in research, engineering, and/or study in glass science or
technology.July 31st Electronics: Edward C. Henry AwardThis award
is given to an outstanding paper in the Journal of the American
Ceramic Society or the ACerS Bulletin during the previous
calendar year on a subject related to electronic ceramics.
Electronics: Lewis C. Hoffman ScholarshipThis $2,000 scholarship
is to encourage academic excellence among
undergraduate students. The 2013 essay topic is Coupled
Properties for Multifunctional Electroceramics.
Additional information and nomination forms for these awards can
be found at ceramics.org/awards. Contact: Marcia Stout at
[email protected]. n
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9American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
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Carolina State University, Control of ZnO Thin Film Polarity
through Interface Chemistry;
Second placeTedi-Marie Usher, University of Florida, Domain Wall
Motion and Electric-Field-Induced Strains in NBTxBT Solid Solutions
from in-situ Neutron Diffraction; and
Third placeJon Bock, The Pennsylvania State University, The
Influence, Role, and Property Variations in Ferroelectricity at the
Edge of the MetalInsulator Transition and Its Influence on
Thermoelectric Properties.
Congratulations to student winners and participants. Thanks to
reviewers and the Electronics Division Awards Committee members
Geoff Brennecka, Hongmei Luo, and Brady Gibbons.
Look forward to even better posters and talks during EMA 2014!
n
Ceramic Education Council strengthens universityindustry bond By
Kristen Brosnan
Last month, Geoff Brennecka and Kevin Fox introduced the new and
improved Education Integration Committee (EIC) that provides
synergy among the Ceramic Education Council
(CEC), National Institute of Ceramic Engineers (NICE), Student
Activities Committee (SAC), Keramos, Young Professionals Network
(YPN), and the Presidents Council of Student Advisors (PCSA). This
month I would like to introduce the new efforts of the CEC in
enhancing studentindustry and indus-trycurriculum ties.
During recent years, the CEC organized the undergraduate
speaking contest, undergraduate poster contest, and graduate poster
contest at MS&T and the ACerS Annual Meeting. These contests
will continue, but now will be organized by the SAC.
Brosnan
Student poster award winners with Electronics Division and
Society leaders. From left: Charlie Spahr, ACerS executive
director; Quanxi Jia, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Michelle
Nolan, University of Florida; Bryan Huey, University of
Connecticut; Ali Henriques, University of Florida; Timothy Haugan,
Wright Patterson Air Force Base; Jonathan Mackey, University of
Akron; Geoffrey Brennecka, Sandia National Laboratory. Jia, Huey,
and Haugan organized the meeting.
(Cre
dit:
AC
erS
.)
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10 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol.
92, No. 3
acers spotlight
The CEC is in the process of rede-fining its role in the
ceramics commu-nity. The committee is going back to its roots in
aligning education with the needs of industry. Now, the major
responsibility of the CEC is to actively assist universities in
aligning curricula with the evolving needs of the global ceramic
industry and to help coordinate outreach activities of the PCSA and
YPN.
The redefined CEC has a few new initiatives this year to address
some critical needs. These are just a start, and we request that
the ceramics com-munity provide us with feedback on our new
direction.
The CEC plans a speed-networking event at MS&T 2013 for
students and ceramic/materials industry professionals.
The CEC plans to set up a lunch with industry day at MS&T
2013 in Montreal. This will be a mechanism for students to
informally ask questions of a professional in the ceramic/materials
industry over lunch.
The CEC is in the process of developing a global ceramic faculty
database with help from the PCSA. The committee has identified 284
faculty representing 14 countries. The CEC is working to expand
this data-base, especially to capture international faculty
information.
The CEC has created a new discussion group for the CEC on
myacers.ceramics.org. The group is open to all to discuss ceramic
curricula and to share ideas for fostering studentindustry
relationships. The committee
invites input on other ways to connect the global ceramics
community.
I encourage ceramic industry pro-fessionals to volunteer for the
speed networking event and/or lunch with industry day. These
one-hour time commitments are an excellent opportu-nity to meet the
many talented students that attend our professional meetings. This
is a great way to give back by helping students build their
professional network and guiding them in their careers in
ceramics.
Contact: Kristen Brosnan at [email protected]. n
ACerS and Indian Ceramic Society sign Memorandum of
Understanding
In January, ACerS members and staff traveled to India to attend
the 76th Annual Session of the Indian Ceramic Society in Ahmedabad,
which was well organized by the InCerS Gujarat chapter. The ACerS
contingent included ACerS immediate past president George Wicks and
his wife Donna, ACerS Board mem-ber Mrityunjay Jay Singh,
president-elect Kathleen Richardson, former ACerS Board member Arun
Varshneya, Engineering Ceramics Division senior counselor Tatsuki
Ohji, members Paolo Colombo and Martin Richardson, and ACerS
director of marketing and mem-bership services, Megan Bricker.
Just prior to the InCerS meet-ing, Singh, Wicks, Ohji, and
Bricker attended the Global Ceramics Leadership Roundtable
Conference in the Greater
Noida (Delhi) area, organized by the Western Uttar Pradesh
Chapter of InCerS under the leadership of L.K. Sharma,
scientist-in-charge of Central Glass and Ceramic Research
Institute. This meeting reviewed the status of ceramic-related
industries in India. Singh chaired the session, Wicks and Ohji gave
global updates, and Bricker spoke of the alliance between the two
societies.
Sharma and Singh also arranged visits to ceramic companies in
Khurja, one of the oldest hubs of ceramics in India. The guests saw
how ceramics and glass in these companies are manufactured and
brought to market. They visited Narang Ceramic Industries, owned by
Haji Azaz Ahmad (Haji Gudda); Silico & Chemico Porcelain Works,
owned by Jaswant Singh Minhas; and Premier Group of Industries,
owned by Ramesh Kumar.
The group next flew to Ahmedabad, where they and other ACerS
mem-bers attended two conferences. First was the International
Conference on Emergence of New Era in Glass and Ceramics. Singh
gave the keynote lecture, Materials for a Sustainable Society.
Other invited speakers included Colombo (Design of Highly Porous
Ceramics from Preceramic Polymers), Martin Richardson (Transparent
CeramicsA Game Changer for Lasers), and Wicks (Tiny Bubbles Unique
Porous Wall Hollow Glass Microspheres and Uses in Energy,
Environmental Remediation, Homeland Defense, and Medicine).
Next, a two-day combined meet-ing entitled, National Conference
on Green Manufacturing Technologies in Glass and Ceramics, was held
that included The 76th Annual Session of InCerS, the 64th Annual
Session of All India Pottery Manufacturers Association, and 38th
Annual Session of Indian Institute of Ceramics. Varshneya presented
the plenary lecture, Glass for Pharmaceutical Packaging, at the
InCerS Annual Meeting. Ohji and Richardson delivered award lectures
(see details, p. 13).
While at the conference, InCerS outgoing president A.L. Shashi
Mohan,
Education Integration Committee
Subcommittees Representatives
CEC reps
NICE reps
SAC reps
EIC Chair
Staff Liaison
Keramos (Pres.)
PCSA (Chair)
YPN (Senior Cochair)
At-Large (Optional)
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11American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
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Wicks, and Kathleen Richardson offi-cially signed a historic
ACerSInCerS Memorandum of Understanding. The pact benefits both
groups by offering each other discounted memberships, lecture
exchanges, a presence on each others websites, and more
interactions in each others publications.
In celebration, the conference par-ticipants attended an
Indian-style reception that featured traditional entertainment and
food. The next day, the ACerS group visited Sabarmati Ashram (the
action campus) of Mahatma Gandhi.
Bricker praises the hospitality shown throughout the trip by all
of the local hosts, which she notes was largely coor-dinated by
Singh. Our experience in India was above and beyond what one could
even imagine, Bricker says. The country, with its rich culture,
amazing food, and friendly, kind people will be long remembered. I
know that the trip and the signing of the MoU have made lasting
impressions on all the ACerS members, both those who attended and
those back in their home countries. n
CeramiC TeCh Today
Porous ceramic water filters (pictured) Internal curing of
concrete Solar fuel from ZnO Aerogel valentines Outlook for tablet
glass market
www.ceramics.org/ceramictechtoday
Get daily updates and biweekly emails on breaking news. Recently
we reported on
A.L. Shashi Mohan, president (now past president) of The Indian
Ceramic Society signed the MoU and shows signatures proudly to Arun
Varshneya and Arup Kumar Chattopadhyay, (current InCerS
president.).
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12 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol.
92, No. 3
acers spotlight
PCSA begins year six, expands to 31 delegates and adds Outreach
CommitteeNow we are six, and as clever as clever, from the A.A.
Milne 1927 poem, Now We Are Six.
By Derek R. Miller, The Ohio State University
An expanded delega-tion of 31 students representing 23
uni-versities congregated in Daytona Beach, Fla., the weekend of
Jan. 2527, 2013, to form the ACerSs 2013 Presidents Council of
Student Advisors (PCSA). This annual busi-ness meeting saw a smooth
transition between officers and established a clear direction for
the organization as it enters its sixth year. Derek Miller, a
graduate student at The Ohio State University, was elected 2013
PCSA chair, taking over after a prolific year under the direction
of former chair, Troy Ansell of Oregon State University. The 2013
PCSA expanded to five committees by adding a stand-ing Outreach
Committee. The new committee chairs are Aaron Lichtner, Valerie
Wiesner, Dalton Divine, Allen Erickson, and Lesa Brown, leading the
Programming, Recruitment, Finance, Communications, and Outreach
Committees, respectively.
Beginning this fall, the annual PCSA business meeting will be
held during MS&T to increase the ACerS PCSA visibility with the
materials science and engineering student body. Thus, the 2013 PCSA
has a shortened year in which to accomplish its expanding
goals. Delegates are optimistic, however, because our number has
increased and the 2012 delegates set us up for success.
Over the past 12 months, the 2012 PCSA put several plans into
motion that we hope to complete in 2013. An ACerS PCSA ceramic
education survey was created and distributed; materials
demonstration kits progressed enough to enable completion in 2013;
excellent fundraising efforts and generous dona-tions allowed the
PCSA to increase its delegate numbers by 50 percent; and the PCSA
organized a student tour of the Vesuvius Research Center
(Pittsburgh, Pa.) during MS&T12 and a student-focused symposium
for EMA 2013.
In 2013, the new Outreach Committee will release two Materials
Science Demonstration Kits (one tar-geted to middle-school
students, the other to high-school students) that will be
distributed nationwide for the purpose of getting materials science
into as many classrooms as possible. Comprehensive student and
teacher instructions, follow-up questions, back-ground information,
real-world applica-tions, and video demonstrations will be included
in each kit that will be made available online as well. Ordering
infor-mation for these kits will be available at MS&T 2013.
The Recruitment Committee aims to expand the number of
universities represented by increasing visibility in
less-well-established materials programs as well as reaching
overseas for interna-tional representation.
The Programming Committee will set up competitions, networking
lunches, and mixers at several conferences over the year as well as
instituting the first-ever PCSA Ceramics-in-Writing contest.
The Communications Committee will finalize data on its education
survey and will present the results at MS&T 2013 to help
educators under-stand how to better prepare students for their
careers. The committee also plans to compile a comprehensive online
resource that includes all schol-arships, internships, fellowships,
REUs, and career opportunities relevant to a materials/ceramic
science student, all in one place. Finally, Communications will
once again organize and provide content for the June/July student
issue of the ACerS Bulletin.
The Finance Committee is working through a shortened fundraising
period and has ambitious goals. Please visit our website for
information on supporting our conference programming, outreach
efforts, and delegate travel expenses.
The PCSA thanks its past and cur-rent financial contributors for
mak-ing its efforts possible. We also thank the former chairs Troy
Ansell, Mona Emrich, Michelle Gervasio, Kelsey Meyer, and Samara
Levine for all of their effort in growing the student ceramics
community and accelerat-ing the momentum of the PCSA. Our ACerS
advisors and staff liaisons, Geoff Brennecka, Richard Brow, Charlie
Spahr, and Tricia Freshour, also have been instrumental in our
success. Without them, PCSAs accomplish-ments would not have been
possible.
If you are a student looking to become a leader in the ceramics
com-munity or just want to help in any way with the PCSAs goals,
please visit http://ceramics.org/pcsa for more infor-mation. PCSA
delegate applications are being accepted now until June 7, 2013, so
apply today! n
Presidents Council of Student Advisors (PCSA) 2013 officers and
delegtates.
Miller
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13American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
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Names in the newsBonnell elected to National Academy of
Engineering
Dawn Bonnell, has been elected to the National Academy of
Engineering for development of atomic-resolution surface probes,
and for institutional
leadership in nanoscience. She is Trustees Chair Professor and
profes-sor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
at the University of Pennsylvania.
Bonnell, an ACerS Fellow, joined The American Ceramic Society in
1986. She served as the chair of the Basic Science Division, vice
president of the Meetings and Exhibits Committee, and on the
Strategic Planning Committee. She earned her PhD from the
University of Michigan and was a Fulbright Scholar to the
Max-Planck-Institute in Stuttgart, Germany. Following her Fulbright
year, she worked at the IBM Thomas Watson Research Center. She has
authored or coauthored over 250 papers, and her work has been
rec-ognized by The American Ceramic Society with the Ross Coffin
Purdy Award and the Sosman Award. Other recognitions include the
Presidential Young Investigators Award, the Staudinger/Durrer Medal
from ETH Zurich, the Heilmeier Faculty Research Award, and several
distin-guished lectureships. Bonnell serves on many editorial
boards, is a past presi-dent of the American Vacuum Society (AVS),
and served on the governing board of the American Institute of
Physics. Besides ACerS, she is a fel-low of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science and the AVS. She is the
founding director of the Nano/Bio Interface Center, which is a
cross disciplinary organization that involves faculty from the
School
of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Arts and
Sciences, the School of Medicine, Wharton, and the Graduate School
of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
The research in the Bonnell group focuses on atomic processes at
surfaces and interfaces. The group is known for the first imaging
of atoms on oxide surfaces, a result that generated a new field
impacting catalysis, nanofabrica-tion and materials growth
technology. They develop new probes of atomic and nanoscale
electromagnetic proper-ties. More recently her group devel-oped a
new paradigm for fabricating nanostructured devices, Ferroelectric
Nanolithography, and discovered a plasmon based mechanism for
harvest-ing light energy. n
Richardson, Ohji receive InCerS awards
The Indian Ceramic Society conferred awards on two
distin-guished ACerS membersKathleen Richardson and Tatsuki Ohjiat
the organizations 76th Annual Session held in January in Ahmedebad
(see report, p. 10).
InCerS presented its I.D. Varshnei Award to Richardson, a
professor of optics and materials science and engi-neering at the
University of Central Floridas CREOL/College of Optics and
Photonics. The Varshnei Award, awarded biannually, recognizes
inter-
national contributions to glass science in honor of I.D.
Varshnei, Indias father of glass science and a past president of
InCerS.
Richardson directs the Glass Processing and Characterization
Laboratory at UCF and researches the synthesis and characterization
of novel glass and glass-ceramics for optical appli-cations. She
has a long history of leader-ship within ACerS, including serving
as chair of its Glass and Optical Materials Division and as a
member of its Board of Directors. She is an ACerS Fellow and
past-president of the National Institute of Ceramic Engineers.
Ohji, also an ACerS leader, was honored by the InCerS during the
same meeting with its M.G. Bhagat Award. Ohji, recogonized for his
significant contribution in the field of ceramics and allied
industries, earned his BS and MS in mechanical engineering from
Nagoya Institute of Technology and PhD in inorganic materials
engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology. He has authored or
coauthored more than 330 peer-reviewed papers and 12 book chapters,
edited 30 books and confer-ence volumes, chaired or cochaired more
than 20 international confer-ences and symposia, and holds more
than 40 patents.
Ohji is a Fellow of ACerS, an Academician of the World Academy
of Ceramics, and past-chair of ACerS
A.L. Shashi Mohan, InCerS president, presents Indian Ceramic
Society awards to ACerS members at the InCerS Annual Meeting in
January. Left: Kathleen Richardson receives the I.D. Varshnei
Award. Right, Tatsuki Ohji receives the M.G. Bhagat Award.
(Cre
dit:
AC
erS
.)
Bonnell
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14 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol.
92, No. 3
Engineering Ceramics Division. His research interests include
mechanical property characterization of ceramics, ceramic
composites and porous materials, microstructural design of ceramic
materi-als for better performance, and green manufacturing of
ceramic components. n
ECerS presents ajgalk with 2013 Stuijts Award
The European Ceramic Society announces that it will present its
Stuijts Award for 2013 to Pavol ajgalk, a member of the Institute
of Inorganic Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava,
Slovak Republic.
ajgalk is a Fellow of ACerS.
The Stuijts Award is given in memory of A. Leog Stuijts, who
contributed to the development of the science and technology of
magnetoceramic and electroceramic materials. Each year, ECerS gives
the award to a ceramist belonging to a member country of the
organization for outstanding contribu-tions to ceramic science,
technology, and educational activities or produc-tion. ajgalk will
receive the award at ECerSs 13th Annual Conference in Limoges,
France, June 2327, 2013.
The award recognizes ajgalk for his work with silicon nitride
and silicon carbide microcomposites and nano-composites. Much of
his work involves doping the Si3N4 and SiC composites with various
rare-earth oxides. He has authored more than 130 techni-cal papers
in reviewed journals and proceedings and has contributed to
national and international books. He holds several patents.
Since 1989, ajgalk has organized the International Advanced
Research Workshops on Engineering Ceramics in the Smolenice Castle,
Slovakia. He has delivered more than 50 invited lectures at
international symposia.
ajgalk has received many national and international awards,
including Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship; Academician of the
World Academy of Ceramics; Member of the Learning Society of the
SAS; Plaquete of Dioniz Ilkovic for Merits in the PhysicalChemical
Sciences; Scientist of the Year 2006 in the Slovak Republic; and
Award of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. n
ajgalk
In Memoriam Ralph V. Brigham Kenneth H. Jack George Taylor
Charles Norman Wilson
Some detailed obituaries also can be found on the ACerS
website.www.ceramics.org/in-memoriam
12th International Conference on Ceramic Processing Science
(ICCPS-12)
August 4-7, 2013 | Portland, Oregon
SAVE THE DATE!
ww
w.ce
ram
ics.
org/
iccp
s12
ICCPS-12 includes plenary and concurrent technical sessions with
invited and contributed presentations. A poster session is also
planned.
Technical Program: Particle shape control and assembly Colloid
dispersion and surface modi cation Rheology of concentrated
suspensions Micro uidic techniques Patterning, templates and self
assembly Wet and dry shaping methods, including additive
manufacturing Solution and precursor thin lm processes
Reaction-based processes Biomimetic and bioinspired techniques
Computational tools applied to processing Novel characterization
and imaging tools Densi cation (nanoscale, multimaterial, complex
shapes, novel approaches) Mesoscale, microscale and hierarchical
manufacturing and design of microstructure Processes and processing
designed to advance speci c energy, electronic, optical and
structural applications
acers spotlight
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15American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
www.ceramics.org
research briefs
The Materials Genome Initiative has gotten plenty of attention
since the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
announced its creation in June 2011. Its stated goal is simple: ...
to discover, develop, manu-facture, and deploy advanced materials
at least twice as fast as possible today, at a fraction of the
cost.
To biologists, a genome is a con-strained set. For example, the
Human Genome Project (HGP) sequenced and mapped the 23,000 genes in
the human genome, which involves about 3.3 bil-lion base pairs.
The idea behind MGI, in contrast, is to start with matters basic
building blocksthe fine structureand discover new combinations of
elements to con-struct materials with certain end proper-ties and
functionalities. The MGI is all about expanding the possibilities
beyond that which is already mapped. With 116 elements comprising
the periodic table of the elements, the possible combina-tions make
3.3 billion look paltry.
The point of entry to the MGI is discovery of new materials, and
science researchers must take the lead in find-ing approaches to
discovering the few hundred or thousand materials that are worth
developing out of the many bil-lion possibilities.
In February a group of research-ers who work on ceramic
materi-als gathered for a National Science Foundation-sponsored
workshop, The Materials Genome Initiative in Ceramics, Geosciences,
and Solid-State Chemistry to address this issue.
About 20 researchers, mostly from academia, participated. All of
them work with ceramic materials, whether as mate-rials scientists
or as researchers from the geoscience, earth science, and
solid-state chemistry and physics communities.
Alexandra Navrotsky, professor at the University of California,
Davis, set the stage by observing that there are striking
commonalities between earth science and materials science. Both
need structural, thermodynam-ic, and physical property data.
Both rely on phase diagrams and need kinetic and mecha-nistic
information for modeling of impossible-to-observe phe-nomena, like
the geoscience of Jupiter, for example.
Focusing on the materials discovery aspect, Krishna Rajan from
Iowa State University, said, MGI is about doing new science to
solve pressing issues. This implies that new science should be
driving solutions to new and urgent problems, not to incrementally
improv-ing existing technology. Incremental improvements may not be
compelling in the business world, anyhow. For example, why would a
company that specializes in refurbishing thermal barrier coatings
be interested in a coating that lasts twice as long? To them, that
looks like half as much product to sell.
The materials science and geoscience communities have some
common frustra-tions, for example, with the difficulty of modeling
across multiple scales, especially length scales. This is true
whether model-ing the transition from the nanoscale to the
mesoscale, or from meters to kilome-ters. Time scales matter, too.
Modeling of processes that occur in picoseconds is challenging, but
so is modeling of pro-cesses that occur in light years.
Given the challenges, what can modeling offer? Ram Seshadri from
the University of California, Santa Barbara (and co-organizer of
the workshop with Carnegie Mellons Gregory Rohrer), says, Looking
at large data sets tells you where you will be wasting your time.
And the role of computation, according to Michelle Johannes of the
Naval Research Laboratory, is to give experimentalists a rough
directional map, an explanation of trends, and sug-gestions for
optimization of properties. In return, the materials mathematicians
need property data and characterization
information (such as crystal structures) from the
experimentalists.
Participants seemed to agree that access to data (that they
liked) was a challenge with no easy (or inexpensive) solutions.
They also seemed to agree that multidisciplinary dialog is
extremely valu-able, and this is an area where technical societies,
such as ACerS or the American Geophysical Union, can help. They can
perhaps organize multidisciplinary sym-posia, special issues of
journals, or work-shoplike meetings. (Last October, ACerS, took a
step in this direction by setting up a structure for Technical
Interest Groups. See the related article in the March 2013 ACerS
Bulletin, p. 6.)
Much discussion focused on the need for single-crystal property
data, because it provides values for intrinsic properties. However,
with a few excep-tions, most engineered materials are not single
crystals. Does that mean junky data is without value? Hardly. As
one participant noted, much of the func-tionality of engineered
materials used today results from their junkiness, whether from
impure compositions or process effects or elsewhere.
The group will publish its report on the workshop in the ACerS
Bulletin. It will summarize the issues, challenges,
opportunitiesand payoffsof mul-tidisciplinary approaches to
materials discovery. n
Multidisciplinary approaches to materials discovery needed for
Materials Genome Initiative
(Cre
dit:
AC
erS
.)
A NSF-sponsored workshop addressed multidis-ciplinary approaches
to the Materials Genome Initiative. From left: Gregory Rohrer, Abby
Kavner, Young-Shin Jun, and Amy Walker.
-
16 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol.
92, No. 3
Trucking solar energyU. Delaware team dissociates zinc oxide in
solar reactor to make solar fuel
Industrial-scale solar installations need a lot of space and as
much sun-shine as possible, such as in deserts. Unfortunately,
though, most people find deserts unpleasant places to live.
One huge advantage of carbon-based energy sources is their
transportability. Railroads and semi-trucks crisscross the nation
in perpetual motion, moving oil, natural gas, and coal from where
they are plentiful (or processed) to where they are needed. One
problem facing the hydro-gen-based economy is that shipping the
extremely light hydrogen is not practical.
What if it were possible to truck solar energy from the desert
to some-where less sunny but more populated? One resource that
tends to be plentiful in areas where people settle and devel-op
industry is water, which is a great place to store hydrogen.
Splitting it out of the molecule is the challenge.
Getting these two energy resources togethersunshine and wateris
the idea behind new research at the University of Delaware, where
mechan-ical engineering professor Ajay Prasad and his group are
making solar fuel.
Prasad and his graduate student, Erik Koepf, use basic
thermodynamic prin-ciples to dissociate zinc oxide and pre-cipitate
zinc-metal granules. Later, zinc metal is reacted with water, where
it happily oxidizes and liberates hydrogen, which is captured and
used as fuel.
Prasad says in a phone interview that he sees the technology as
a way to make zinc centrally, and then generate hydro-gen locally.
He noted that a single tubu-lar semi-truck can only carry about 100
kg of hydrogen, but can transport several tons of zinc
particles.
It takes a lot of energy to dissociate zinc oxide, though, and
Prasads and Koepfs work focuses on designing a solar reactor that
can concentrate enough sunlight and reach high enough temper-atures
to drive the dissociation reaction.
Koepf successfully tested a solar reac-
tor design last April. Prasad says, We are at the
proof-of-concept stage. In the first round of testing last April,
we couldnt get high enough temperatures. The reason is that the
[reflector] mir-ror was too small, and we were losing available
energy. The reflector mirror directs the light from the solar
concen-trators into the reaction chambers.
During the April 2012 test, reactor temperatures reached about
1,200C. Temperatures of about 1,400 to 1,700C (1,700 to 2,000 K)
are desired for the dissociation reaction.
Since then, Koepf has been reworking the reactor design,
especially the mirror component to focus 5,000 to 10,000 suns of
concentrated energy into the reactor. Koepf tested the tweaked
solar reactor at the Solar Technology Laboratory at the Paul
Scherrer Institute in Switzerland in February 2013.
The team built the reactor with ceramic components. It is a
funnel-shaped design made of 15 fitted, trapezoid-shaped alumina
plates. At the top of each trapezoid is a hopper of zinc oxide
powder, which is sprinkled into the funnel with a metering spline.
The powders descend through the reactor under the force of
gravity.
According to a paper by Koepf, et al., published last fall in
the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, the first layer of
powder sinters on top of the alumina plates, and subsequent layers
of powders dissociate as they descend. The sintered zinc oxide
layer does not react with the alumina and is easily scraped
off.
As the diagram shows, there are three distinct temperature
zones, each of which corresponds to a different heat-transfer
mechanism. Zone I is the preheat region with temperatures of
1,3001,650 K. In Zone II, tempera-tures reach 1,6501,800 K under
diffuse radiation. The dissociation reaction begins here. Finally,
Zone III experienc-es direct radiation and temperatures in the
1,8001,900 K range. Dissociation finishes here. At the bottom of
the funnel, unreacted zinc oxide drops out. A flowing argon
atmosphere helps cre-ate a tornado-like environment in the
chamber and sweeps the zinc vapor into an alumina collection
tube. There, the vapor is quenched very quickly to con-dense it
before reoxidation can occur. Overall, the powders spend about
one-half second in the reactor.
The hydrolysis reaction that oxidizes zinc and gives off
hydrogen occurs at about 600C. Even though the process is not
energy cheap, it is passive and offers a mechanism for
redistributing energy resources. Prasad imagines, for example, an
industrial-scale operation with a desert-based field of a thousand
solar concentrator mirrors focused on a solar reactor mounted on a
tower, and tons of dissociated zinc are trucked to sun-poor,
water-rich areas. By setting up favorable thermodynamics, hydrogen
then can be generated anywhere.
The paper is, A novel beam-down, gravity-fed, solar
thermochemical receiver/reactor for direct solid particle
decomposition: Design, modeling, and experimentation, by Erik
Koepf, Suresh G. Advani, Aldo Steinfeld, and Ajay K. Prasad;
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. DOI:
10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.08.086. n
ceramics in energy
(Cre
dit:
Pra
sad
; U
nive
rsity
of
Del
awar
e.)
Schematic diagram of one tile of solar reactor. Fifteen tiles
arranged in a funnel shape comprise a solar reactor capable of
reaching temperatures approaching 2,000 K, enough to dissociate
zinc oxide.
-
17American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
www.ceramics.org
advances in nanomaterials
Supercapacitorsalso called elec-trochemical double-layer
capacitors or ultracapacitorsare an interesting class of devices.
Their energy density is much higher than conventional dielectric
capacitors, and they can deliver much more power density than
batteries. Typical storage capacity for dielectric capacitors is on
the order of microfarads per gram of active material, whereas, for
supercapacitors, it is on the order of tens of farads, maybe
more.
Charge is stored in an electrical double layer where ions hug
the surface of the electrode, which sets up a sec-ondor doublelayer
of the opposite charge in the electrolyte. More surface means more
charge storage capacity. Nanoporous materials have enormous
specific surface areas and occupy little space, which opens the
possibility of thin-film supercapacitors.
The search is on for new materials to replace electrodes made of
activated charcoal and other forms of porous carbon. These new
materials must be able to store more charge, be thinner, or have
other properties carbon lacks. (Research into improving carbon for
supercapacitor electrodes remains a very active field,
however.)
A Rapid Communication by Lee et al. in the January issue of the
Journal of the American Ceramic Society reports on a candidate
supercapacitor electrode material, molybdenum nitride (Mo3N2).
According to the paper, molybdenum nitrides are interstitial
compounds with superior chemical stability, attractive physical
properties, and good electrical conductivity. However, they are
dense compared with carbon. In the reported work, the team of
researchers from Soongsil University (Seoul, Korea) and the
University of Washington wanted to find a better way to synthesize
single-crystal, mesoporous Mo3N2 nanowires. The team says, The
crucial advantages for mesoporous structures are electro-chemically
active surface areas and
controlled pore sizes in the nanometer range.
Other researchers have made Mo3N2 by nitridation, for example,
by nitrid-ing a template compound, such as a zeolite. The current
group, instead, turned to a topotactic reaction to see whether
higher specific surface area and better chargedischarge
capabilities could be achieved.
Such topotactic reactions are uncom-mon for ceramic synthesis,
but the concept is quite simple. A topotactic reaction is A
reversible or irreversible reaction that involves the introduction
of a guest species into a host structure and that results in
significant structural modifications to the host, for example, the
breakage of bonds, according to the International Union of Pure and
Applied Chemistry. An example is the insertion of lithium into
Li(Mn2)O4 spi-nel with one-crystal symmetry to make a layered
structure with a different sym-metry. These reactions also are
called insertion reactions.
The topotactic reaction is surpris-ingly simple to execute. Lee
et al. started with MoO3 single-crystal nanowires, loaded them into
a quartz boat, and heated them to 700C for three hours in flowing
ammonia. They kept the ammonia flowing during the cool-down stage
to prevent surface reoxidation.
Using standard electron micros-copy, X-ray dif-fractometry, and
electrochemical characterization tools, they showed
that the oxide did convert to Mo3N2 sin-gle-crystal nanowires
with a well-defined mesoporous nanostructure (average pore size was
about 4.6 nm) and a very high specific surface area (about 45
m2/g). They conclude that the mesoporous structure most likely
results from the rearrangement of the oxide structure into metal
nitride, giving rise to the for-mation of pores in the framework of
the molybdenum nitride. These two struc-tural features result in
higher specific charge capacity than is seen in Mo3N2 synthesized
by conventional nitridation.
The team also reports that topo-tactically synthesized Mo3N2 has
bet-ter chargedischarge properties than nitrided material. They
suggest this is because the electrolyte easily penetrates the
uniform mesopore structure.
See Single-Crystalline Mesoporous Molybdenum Nitride Nanowires
with Improved Electrochemical Properties, Kyung-Hoon Lee, Young-Woo
Lee, A-Ra Ko, Guozhong Cao, and Kyung-Won Park, J. Am. Ceram. Soc.,
doi: 10.1111/jace.12096. n
Nanoporous molybdenum nitride supercapacitor electrodes
TEM image of MoO3 single-crystal nanowires (a, b). TEM image of
mesoporous single-crystal Mo3N2 (d, e).
(Cre
dit:
Lee
et
al.,
JAC
erS
, W
iley.
)
-
18 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol.
92, No. 3
Internal curing standards and recent work on extending life of
concrete structures
One goal of researchers working on high-performance cements and
con-cretes is to improve the performance of structures, such as
roadways and bridge decks. The recent development of internal
curing (IC) techniques has led to the creation of a new standard
speci-fication by ASTM International.
A fundamental challenge facing cement and concrete chemists is
to pre-vent deterioration caused by ions from salts and other
sources, which can lead to corrosion of steel reinforcements and
crack formation. A basic consideration is that cement systems must
cure or hydrate sufficiently to become useful. Early-age crackinga
nemesiscan lead to accelerated deterioration of con-crete and,
ultimately, to catastrophic failure of bridge components.
Several factors come into play. First, curing is not
instantaneous and requires access to water. Curing to a serviceable
extent (e.g., to 75 percent of full cur-ing) typically is measured
in days and weeks, but it can continue for years if conditions are
right.
Second, the composition of the concrete matters. Use of
high-performance concrete or substitut-ing cementitious
constituents with alternatives, such as fly ash, can lead to curing
problems. High-performance materials have the positive property of
limiting the ingress of briny fluids and destructive ions. However,
accord-ing to John Ries, technical director of the Expanded Shale,
Clay and Slate Institute (Chicago, Ill.), these proper-ties also
limit the ability of externally applied curing water to reach the
inte-rior of the concrete.
On the other hand, cement alterna-tives can lead to extended
curing times. In a recent NIST Tech Beat story, NIST engineer Dale
Bentz explains, In these high-volume fly ash mixtures, internal
curing is important, because, while the fly ash will react with the
cement,
it takes a lot longer. After 28 days, maybe 30 percent or less
of the fly ash has reacted, so you really need to keep the concrete
saturated for an extended period of time.
In both cases, the solution is to encourage internal curing and,
says Reis, provide a source of additional water to maintain
saturation of the cementitious paste and avoid its
self-desiccation.
Purdue University and the Indiana Department of Transportation
(INDOT) IC approach creates a longer-term internal water source
instead of relying on water in the mix or exter-nally applied
water. A Purdue news release reports that the IC approach is based
on creating water pockets formed from small porous stonesor fine
aggregateto replace some of the sand in the mixture. Purdues Jason
Weiss says, A key step in the process is to prewet the lightweight
aggregate with water before mixing the concrete.
Weiss, professor of civil engineering and director of the Pankow
Materials Laboratory, and a long-time collabora-
tor on the annual meetings of ACerSs Cements Division, reports
that coming up with a suitable IC system did not happen overnight.
Nearly five years of research have been performed to fully
understand how to proportion these mixtures and the level of
performance that can be expected, Weiss says.
A prototype IC study is underway. In 2010, INDOT (with support
from NIST, Lafarge North America, and the Expanded Shale Clay and
Slate Institute) built two adjacent bridgesone based on IC
specifications and one based on traditional specifications.
Preliminary results are encouraging. In the Purdue release, Weiss
reports, The control bridge has developed three cracks, but no
cracks have developed in the internally cured bridge. Tests also
show the internally cured concrete is approximately 30 percent more
resis-tant to salt ingress.
Recently, NIST and Purdue success-fully gained the approval of
ASTMs Standard Specification for Lightweight Aggregate for Internal
Curing of Concrete (ASTM C1761-12). n
ceramics in the environment
(Cre
dit:
And
y H
anco
ck,
Pur
due
Uni
vers
ity.)
From left, Purdue University graduate students Paul Imbrock,
Kambiz Raoufi, and John Schlitter pour concrete for a test specimen
in research to improve Indiana bridges. The state is using a new
type of internally cured concrete researched at Purdue that
promises to reduce maintenance costs and allow bridge decks to last
longer
-
19American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
www.ceramics.org
Flowerpot like ceramic filters purify water for drinking,
cooking
The World Health Organization and UNICEF monitor access to
potable water through the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water
Supply and Sanitation. The Programmes 2012 prog-ress report
includes the very good news that in the 10-year period from 1990 to
2000, more than two billion people gained access to safe drinking
water. Now, 6.1 billion people (89 percent of the worlds
population) have access to water for drinking and cooking. The
accompanying bad news is that 780 mil-lion people still need access
to improved, pathogen-free drinking water.
Because of a dearth of infrastructure in these remaining
regions, simple solutions are especially attractive. And, it
appears that the humble clay pot might be the answer to providing
potable water and some local industry, as well.
An interdisciplinary team at the University of Virginia
developed a water purification system based on porous ceramic clay
disks (MadiDropsMadi
is the Tshivenda South African word for water) impregnated with
nanopar-ticles of either silver or copper.
The filters are made by mixing and pressing indigenous clay with
sawdust, which creates a porous structure on firing. A nanoparticle
slurry of silver or copper (both have anti-pathogenic qualities)
painted over the surface seeps into the pores. Tests show that the
filters eliminate 99.9 percent of patho-gens as water passes over
the silver or copper. (However, they are less effec-tive at
removing sediments that cause discoloration or taste.)
The filters can be made in either pucklike tablets or in
flowerpot like shapes. The flowerpot shapes rest in a five-gallon
plastic bucket equipped with a spigot. The flow rate is one to
three liters per hour, which is fast enough for drinking and
cooking purposes. The tablet shapes simply lie in the bottom of the
bucket.
The UVA team established a non-profit organization, called
PureMadi, to set up factories and promote the tech-nology.
PureMadis first factory in Limpopo
province, South Africa, already has produced several hundred
flowerpot filters. According to a UVA press release, the plant,
staffed mostly by women, eventually will produce 500 to 1,000
filters per month. Plans are to build another 10 to 12 plants in
the next decade, which could provide potable water for up to
500,000 people per year. n
(Cre
dit:
Pur
eMad
i, U
VA
.)
Flowerpot like filters loaded into kiln for firing.
Materials Science & Technology2013 Conference &
Exhibition
october 27-31, 2013 Palais des congrs de Montral | Montral,
Qubec, Canada
rese
rve
you
r b
oo
th
by A
pril
13th a
nd s
ave
$100
!
www.matscitech.org
Pat Janeway Beth Kirschner Kelly Thomas Brigitte Farah Caron
Gavrish (614) 794-5826 (724) 814-3030 (440) 338-1733 (514) 939-2710
ext. 1329 (724) 814-3140 [email protected] [email protected]
[email protected] [email protected]
[email protected]
contact a representative for more details on exhibiting,
advertising or sponsorships:
-
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92,
No. 320
MAX phases: Bridging the gap between metals and ceramics
MAX phases: Bridging the gap between metals and ceramicsBy
Miladin Radovic and Michel W. Barsoum
c o v e r s t o r ybulletin
(Cre
dit:
Cre
dit:
Rad
ovic
and
Ben
itez;
TA
MU
.)
T he term MAX phases was coined in the late 1990s and applies to
a family of 60+ ternary carbides and nitrides that share a layered
structure as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. They are so called
because of their chemical formula: Mn+1AXn where n = 1, 2, or 3,
where M is an early transition metal, A is an A-group element
(specifi-cally, the subset of elements 1316), and X is carbon
and/or nitrogen, Figure 2.1 Nowotny and coworkers2, 3 discovered
most of these phases in powder form roughly 40 years ago. However,
Barsoum and El-Raghys4 report in 1996 on the synthesis of
phase-pure bulk Ti3SiC2 samples and their unusual combina-tion of
properties catalyzed renewed interest in them. Since then, research
on the MAX phases has exploded. According to ISI, to date around
1,200 papers have been published on one MAX phase alone, Ti3SiC2,
with roughly half of those published in the past six years.
The MAX phases are a new and exciting class of carbides
and nitrides that bridge the gap between properties typical
of metals and ceramics, while offering fundamentally new
directions in tuning the structure and properties of
ceramics
for emerging applications.
Figure 1. Scanning electron microscopy of the fractured surface
in Ti2AlC after dynamic testing of at a strain rate of 2400 s
1 showing typical laminated nature and deformation of
individu-al grains by kinking.
-
21American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92, No. 3 |
www.ceramics.org
The growing interest results from the unusual, often unique,
properties of the MAX phases. Like their correspond-ing binary
carbides and nitrides (MX), the MAX phases are elastically stiff,
good thermal and electrical conduc-tors, resistant to chemical
attack, and have relatively low thermal expansion coefficients.1
Mechanically, however, they cannot be more different. They are
relatively soft and most are readily machinable, thermal shock
resistant and damage tolerant. Moreover, some are fatigue, creep,
and oxidation resis-tant. At room temperature, they can be
compressed to stresses as high as 1 GPa and fully recover on
removal of the load, while dissipating approximately 25 percent of
the mechanical energy.6 At higher temperatures, they undergo a
brittle-to-plastic transition (BPT), above which they are quite
plastic even in tension.5
This article gives an overview of the salient properties of the
MAX phases and of the status of our current under-standing. Some of
their potential appli-cations also are highlighted. For a thor-ough
review of the large body of work on MAX phases, the reader is
referred to a recently published book1 and a number of excellent
review articles.715
Crystal structure and atomic bonding in the MAX phases
The MAX phases are layered hex-agonal crystal structures (space
group P63/mmc) with two formula units per unit cell, as illustrated
in Figure 2, for structures with n equal 1 to 3. The unit cells
consist of M6X-octahedra with the X-atoms filling the octahedral
sites between the M-atoms, which are identical to those found in
the rock salt structure of the MX binaries. The octahedra alternate
with layers of pure A-elements located at the centers of trigonal
prisms that are slightly larger, and thus more accommodating of the
larger A-atoms. When n = 1, the A-layers are separated by two
M-layers (Figure 2(a)). When n = 2, they are separated by three
layers (M3AX2 in Figure 2(b)). When n = 3, they are separated by
four layers (M3AX2 in Figure 2(c)). MAX phases with more
complex stacking sequences, such as M5AX4, M6AX5, and M7AX6 also
have been reported.8,16
In addition to the pure MAX phases that contain one of each of
the M, A, and X elements highlighted in Figure 2(d), the number of
possible solid solutions is quite large. Solid solu-tions have been
processed and charac-terized with substitution on1
M sites, e.g., (Nb,Zr)2AlC, (Ti,V)2AlC, (Ti,Nb)2AlC,
(Ti,Cr)2AlC, (Ti,Hf)2InC, and (Ti,V)2SC;
A-sites, e.g., Ti3(Si,Ge)C2, and Ti3(Sn,Al)C2; and
X-sites,17 e.g., Ti2Al(C,N) and Ti3Al(C,N)2.
Interestingly, some of solid solu-tions exist even when one of
the end members does not. The number of MAX phases and their solid
solutions continues to expand. The discovery of new phases has
advanced significantly through the combination of experi-mental and
theoretical density func-tional theory (DFT) approaches.1,1820 For
example, ab-initio studies recently extended the family of the MAX
phases to compounds with magnetic proper-ties that contain later
transition-metal substitutions on the M sites, such as
(Cr,Mn)2AlC.
21 A large body of work devoted to
DFT calculations of the electronic structures and chemical
bonding in the
Figure 2. Unit cells of the Mn+1AXn phases for (a) n = 1 or
M2AX, (b) n = 2 or
M3AX2, and (c) n = 3 or M4AX3 phases, and (d) M, A, and X
elements that form the MAX phases.
(Cre
dit:
Cre
dit:
Rad
ovic
; TA
MU
.)
-
www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 92,
No. 322
MAX phases: Bridging the gap between metals and ceramics
MAX phases22-28 shows that Similar to the MX phases, MAX
phase bonding is a combination of metallic, covalent, and ionic
bonds;
The M and X atoms form strong directional covalent bonds in the
M-X layers that are comparable to those in the MX binaries;22, 27,
28
MdMd metallic bonding domi-nates the electronic density of
states at the Fermi level, N(EF); and
In most MAX phases, the MA bonds are relatively weaker than the
MX bonds.
Given the similarities between some aspects of the atomic
bonding in the MX and MAX phases it is not surpris-ing they share
many common attributes and properties, such as metal-like
elec-trical conductivities, high stiffness val-ues, thermal
stability, and low thermal expansion coefficients.
Physical properties Most of the MAX phases are excel-
lent electrical conductors, with electri-cal resistivities that
mostly fall in the narrow range of 0.20.7 m at room
temperature.1,10 Like other metallic conductors, their
resistivities increase with increasing temperatures (Figure 3(a).
Ti3SiC2 and Ti3AlC2 conduct better than titanium metal. Even more
interesting and intriguing, many of the MAX phases appear to be
compensated conductors, wherein the concentra-tions of electrons
and holes are roughly equal, but their mobilities are about
equal, too.10 Several MAX phases, most notably
Ti3SiC2, have very low thermoelectric or Seebeck
coefficients.10,29 Solids with essentially zero thermopower can, in
principle, serve as reference materials in thermoelectric
measurements, for example, as leads to measure the abso-lute
thermopower of other solids.
The optical properties of the MAX phases are dominated by
delocalized electrons.30 Magnetically, most of them are Pauli
paramagnets, wherein the susceptibility is, again, determined by
the delocalized electrons and, thus, is neither very high, nor
temperature dependent.31
Thermally, the MAX phases share much in common with their MX
counterparts, that is, they are good thermal conductors because
they are good electrical conductors. At room temperatures their
thermal conductivi-ties (Figure 3(b)) fall in the 1260 W/(mK)
range.1,10 The coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) of the MAX
phases fall in the 510 K1 range and are relatively low as expected
for refrac-tory solids.15 The exceptions are some
chromium-containing phases with CTEs in the 1214 K1 range.
At high temperatures, the MAX phases do not melt congruently but
decompose peritectically to A-rich liquids and Mn+1Xn carbides or
nitrides. Thermal decomposition occurs by the loss of the A element
and the forma-tion of higher n-containing MAX phases and/or MX.
Some MAX phase, such as Ti3SiC2, are quite refractory with
decomposi