achieving new breakthroughs, meeting new...

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Interview with Tatsuki Ohji of Japans National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Directory of Japanese businesses, institutions and universities with ceramics and glass concentrations

Critique of Utilization, not sequestion of CO2 paper, and authors response MS&T11 final program

ICACC12, EMA 2012 and MCARE 2012 previews ACerS 2012 awards information and deadline

Ceramic advances in Japan:Achieving new breakthroughs, meeting new challenges

http://www.ceramics.org

See us at MS&T11, Booth 609 | ICACC12, Booth 200

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1American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 90, No. 8 | www.ceramics.org 1American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 90, No. 8 | www.ceramics.org

contentsO c t o b e r - N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 1 V o l . 9 0 N o . 8

feature articlesANNUAL INTERNATIONAL ISSUE:

Ceramic advances in Japan: Achieving new breakthroughs, meeting new challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Alex Talavera and Randy B. Hecht

Japan has long been a leader in ceramics and glass. The profiled companies and institutions continue to offer innovations, such as ultrathin glasses and ceramic electronics. The country is also focused on sustainable and green advances with a new approach to generating electricity.

Interview with Tatsuki Ohji of Japans National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Ohji, AISTs prime senior research scientist, talks about the state of the fine ceramics industry in Japanthe countrys global role, manufacturing trends, rare-earth supplies and more.

Directory of Japanese businesses, institutions and universities . . . . . . . . . . . . 36A representative listing of organizations, their websites and contact information.

A critique of the green house gas converter proposed by Azad et al. . . . . . 40K.T. Jacob and R. Adharsh

Reduction of carbon dioxide emissions is a universally accepted goal to minimize global warm-ing and its catastrophic consequences. The response of Azad et al. follows.

MS&T11 final program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Plenary session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46ACerS lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Materials Genome Initiative special session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47MS&T11 Women in Science reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Young professional programming at MS&T11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Program-at-a-glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50MS&T11 exhibitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Featured ceramic-related exhibitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

36th Intl Conf. and Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites . . . 55

Electronic Materials and Applications 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Materials Challenges In Alternative & Renewable Energy 2012 . . . . . . . . . . 59

departmentsNews & Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4ICGannualmeetingprovidesinsightsintoAsianglasstrendsWhiteHouse:45companiespledgetodoubleengineeringinternshipsnextyearStrategiesforfundinguniversityscientificresearchArmyseeksstructuralmaterialswhitepapersUSBrazilsfirststrategicenergydialogueproducescooperativeagreementsOnestepforward,onestepbackforMolycorpHitachirare-earthsrelation-

ship;SumitomodealstalledCongresspassespatentreformactMedicaldevicecompaniesappealtoCongressandIRStoavoidexcisetax

in 2013

Research BriefsA surprisingly simple method to make 2D graphenelike carbides via MAX exfoliation page 19

cover storyAn overview of Japans role in ceramics and glass innovations page 31 (Cover photo credits: Kyocera; iStock)

Ceramics in the EnvironmentChicagolands nighttime looks better with new ceramic metal halide street lights page 29


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departments, continuedACerS Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Society2012awardnominationdeadline:Jan.15,2012DivisionawardsSun,surfandscienceStudentactivitiesatMCARE2012CallingallpotentialEmeritusmembersGOMD2012callforpapersNewbooksfromACerS

Research Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18HafniumandzirconiumdiboridecompositesforhypersonicleadingedgesMAXexfoliation:Asimplemethodtomake2DgraphenelikecarbidesRamanspectroscopyusedlikeaGPStomaptougheninginzirconiaImprovingMgO-containingcastablerefractories

Ceramics in Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Usingnanowires,includingcoreshellstructures,toimprovephotovoltaicsImagingtheelectrochemicalreactioninsolidoxidefuelcells

Advances in Nanomaterials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Long-liveddatastoragefromnanostructuredglassFujitsuscomputationaldesignofCNTandgraphenenanodeviceSimulationsrevealentropyrootsofwaterpenetrationofCNTs

Ceramics in the Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Ahealthier-lookingglowwithnewceramicmetalhalidestreetlightsAnewefforttoassessandreduceearthquakerisks

columnsDeciphering the Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64EricPatterson Pattersons internship with TDK Corporation in Japan introduced him to product-oriented research, a new language, corporate dormitory life, uniforms and karaoke.

resourcesCalendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Classified Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Display Advertising Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

contentsO c t o b e r - N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 1 V o l . 9 0 N o . 8bulletin

AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY

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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 technology, including R&D, manufacturing, engineering and marketing.

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www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 90, No. 84

Earlier this year the International Commission on Glass held its annual meeting in Shenzhen, China, and the postmeeting release contained some interesting information.

The meeting involved many of Chinas businesses and institu-tions. It was jointly sponsored by the Chinese Ceramic Society and was organized with the assistance of the China Triumph International Engineering Co.; the Glass, Special Glass and Electronic Glass committees of the CCS; the Photovoltaic Glass Professional Committee of the China Architectural and Industrial Glass Association; the Shenzhen Solar Energy Society; the South China University of Technology; and Shenzhen University.

The ICG will be going through some leadership changes. Peng Shou, presi-dent of CTIEC, was elected as presi-dent-elect of the ICG and will serve as the president in the 20122015 period. Shou takes over the leadership from Fabiano Nicoletti. Manoj Choudhary, Owens Corning, was elected vice presi-dent.

Shou announced several of his priori-ties as the future leader of ICG, including increasing the number of member orga-nizations from the ASEAN countries; strengthening global cooperation among scientific research institutes, academic groups, universities and entrepreneurs; helping developing countries improve the quality and yield of glass products; and helping to solve environmental problems by promoting energy saving and emission

reduction technologies.Several glass trends came to light at

the meeting: Flat-glass production in China had

increased by 60 percent since 2004. China has decided to strategically

focus on ultraclear solar glass, ultrathin substrate glass for displays, energy sav-ing glass and emission reduction in glass production. By 2020, Chinese output of flat-glass for photovoltaics alone is expected to exceed the total global production of flat-glass in 2005 (which they feel may be accelerated by the earthquake and nuclear power issues in Japan).

Masayuki Kamiya, senior executive officer the AGC Group for China, says AGCs vision is that glass products have unlimited potential for the future and that plastics are not seen as a threat but rather as a composite component that can enhance glass applications.

Many ICG members are concerned by insufficient R&D monies being available and would like to see coopera-tive efforts to develop new melting and forming technologies and to making sheets as thin as 0.3 millimeters.

Visit www.icglass.org n

news & trends

Business newsCorning prepares to produce mis-

sile nosecones (www.corning.com) AeroVironment files patent application for aerogel-insulated cryogenic liquid tank (www.militaryaerospace.com) Nanocerox awarded STTP by Air Force to commercialize product (www.nanocerox.com) Morgan Technical Ceramics Certech strengthens ceramic cores by up to 30 percent (www.morgantechni-calceramics.com) Blastcretes X-10 Shotcrete Pump ideal for demanding refractory and commercial shotcrete applications (http://blastcrete.com)

Unifrax acquires catalytic converter emis-sion control mat business (www.unifrax.com) Virial launches first production line for nanostructured ceramic and cerametallic goods (www.rusnano.com) Union Process horizontal media mills figure prominently in lithium-ion battery preproduction (www.unionprocess.com) Ceradyne elects Siegfried Mussig to board of directors (www.ceradyne.com) PPG to form fiber glass joint venture with Harsha in India (www.ppg.com) Schott Solar to supply 67,000 solar mod-ules to Thailand (www.us.schott.com) n

ICG annual meeting provides insights into Asian glass trends

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ICG president-elect addresses attendees at the annual meeting in Shenzhen.

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White House: 45 companies pledge to double engineering internships next year

The Presidents Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and the Business Council, Business Roundtable, United States Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and the American Chemistry Council announced that 45 businesses have committed doubling the number of internships they offer in 2012, adding about 6,300 new positions. Another five businesses agreed to lesser but substan-tial boosts in their internship numbers.

Companies making the commit-ment include Alcoa Inc., American Express Company, AT&T, Bayer AG, *Bechtel Corporation, BNSF Railway, Boeing, Broadcom Corporation, Cardinal Health, Carus Corporation, Caterpillar, *Chevron Corporation, Conductix-Wampfler, ConAgraFoods Inc., Dell Inc., Duke Energy Corporation, DuPont, Eaton , Facebook, Fluor Corporation, FMC Technologies, General Electric, Intel Corporation, *Johnson and Johnson Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Company, Kawasaki Motors Corporation US, Longview Fibre Paper and Packaging Inc., Lubrizol Corporation, Mastercard, McKesson Corporation, MeadWestvaco Corporation, Nalco Company, NextEra Energy Resources, Nordson Corporation, *PCC Structurals Inc., Power Cubers Inc., Simon Property Group Inc., Spectra Energy Corporation, Special Products and Manufacturing Inc., Sprint Nextel, Suffolk Construction, Sungard, Sunoco Inc., Symantec, TE Connectivity,

Tektronix, *Texas Instruments Inc., Textron Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Xerox Corporation.

*Committed to increase, but not doubling

Visit www.doe.gov n

http://www.doe.govhttp://www.ceramics.orghttp://www.chemet.commailto:[email protected]


news & trends

Ceramitec is a unique trade fair and an innovation forum for all branches of the ceramics industry. On exhibit will be machinery and equipment, processes and raw materials for ceramics and powder metallurgy. For example, plant manufacturers for heavy clay ceramics will be showcasing new, efficient plants and machinery, while raw material sup-pliers will be displaying their products and innovative integrated solutions. Research institutes also will present their visions for the factories of the future.

In addition, the second Heavy Clay Day will take place, and experts from the industry will present their future-

oriented solutions and new ideas on the topic of resource-efficient production and construction. Supplementary pre-sentations by experts and panel discus-sions are free to trade show attendees.

This event was last held in 2009 and attracted 15,000 visitors from 84 coun-tries. More than 650 vendors from 35 countries were at the event as exhibi-tors.

The trade fair will take place May 2225, 2012, at the New Munich Trade Fair Center in Munich, Germany.

Contact Ms. Anika Niebuhr, Tel: 646-437-1014; email: [email protected]; Web: www.ceramitec.de/en. n

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Strategies for funding university scientific research: Economizing, collaborating and specializing

The new Timken Engineered Surfaces Laboratory will be housed in the University of Akrons new engineering research building.

The impact of the July debt-ceiling debate in Congress on United States research universities is unclear but probably not good, according to an Aug. 12 article in Science by Jeffrey Mervis. The budget bill holds all dis-cretionary spending static for the next two years and calls for trimming out $917 billion over the next 10 years. R&D comprises around 12 percent of federal discretionary spending. Mervis cites lobbyists who estimate that cuts in discretionary spending starting in 2013, including most research programs, will be in the range of 7 to 11 percent.

On the other hand, President Obama

had requested increases of 13 percent for the NSF and 12 percent for DOEs Office of Science.

The funding stall-out is disap-pointing, especially in light of all the attention that the administration and funding agencies are giving to innova-tion and manufacturing initiatives, spe-cifically the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership and the Materials Genome Initiative. However, according to the article, the administration says there is enough money to advance research programs, although the agreement doesnt spell out how the money will be allocated across federal agencies.

The future is anything but clear as the House and Senate have yet to determine their 2012 spending priori-ties and begin the painful slog through the 2013 budget cuts. Mervis sums up the views of a staffer at MITs federal relations office, William Bonvillian, noting that [Bonvillian] thinks there are simply too many variables, includ-ing a presidential election, to even haz-ard a guess beyond 2012.

Meanwhile, a recent Nature article (doi:10.1038/476385a) first reminds readers that Congress commissioned the National Academy of Sciences to advise them on effective ways of pro-

Saint-Gobain, ceramic materials at Ceramitec 2009.

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viding long-term stability to research universities without increasing invest-ment much more. The article goes on to say that the NAS recommendations are expected to be released before the end of the year. (The Nature article did not say when the study was commis-sioned, but NAS studies typically span about 18 months. Therefore, the study had to have been commissioned before this years epic budget battle.)

Although the NAS document, being developed by a 21-person influential group of researchers, business people and university administrators, is still in its draft stages, Nature says it was able to learn that the document prob-ably will call for universities to become more thrifty and much more efficient (the story also refers to it as fat trim-ming). One recommendation will be for researchers to economize by shar-ing equipment, facilities and supervi-sion dutiesnot only between research

groups, but even between institutions in the same city. The example cited is collaboration programs such as the multi-institutional DOE Energy Innovation Hubs.

The NAS report is expected to urge federal and state funding agen-cies to simplify regulations that apply to research grants, especially regarding reporting. The article says the report also will recommend that funding agencies pay the full indirect cost of research (i.e., overhead). In 1991 Congress capped indirect costs at 26 percent, despite actual overhead amounting to about 30 percent.

According to the article, research universities have been tapping under-graduate tuition fees to make up the difference. (For years, universities have been selling prospective students and their parents on the research opportuni-ties available to undergrads. Undergrads would be well advised to participate if

they are helping pay for it.) The NAS panel realizes that calling for more overhead spending in an era of flat bud-gets will mean less money for research. The article says the panels solution to the dilemma is that the report will urge the government to target funding strategically, concentrating on research areas with the greatest potential to pro-duce innovation and jobs.

There is another way, that may prove to be an effective mechanism for funding university research. Because it has a grassrootsor perhaps boutiqueflavor, it may not get as much press beyond local interest.

Last week the University of Akron and the Timken Company announced a specialized research collaboration to accelerate technology development. The press release says Timken will pro-vide funding and equipment valued at about $5 million to establish the new Timken Engineered Surfaces Laboratory.

http://www.ceramics.orghttp://www.specialty-aluminas.riotintoalcan.commailto:[email protected]


news & trends

Timkens chief technologist Gary Doll will join the academic ranks and lead the labs efforts when he assumes a newly established endowed chair.

The dean of UAs College of Engineering says in the press release that the agreement creates a new, important platform for innovation that will ben-efit our engineering students, Timken, UA and the region through our joint research and commercialization efforts.

Visit www.sciencemag.org, www.nature.com, www.uakron.edu n

Army seeks structural materials white papers

The Army Research Offices Synthesis and Processing program is seeking white papers on the creation of superior structural materials through creative combinations of microstructure engineering in extreme yet precise con-ditions to obtain novel and far-from-equilibrium microstructures; advanced microscopy, probes and other character-ization tools and integrated computa-tional materials engineering.

Contact Mathaudhu, at the Army Research Office, email: suveen.mathaudhu(at)us.army.mil n

USBrazils first strategic energy dialogue produces cooperative agreements

In mid-August DOE deputy secretary Daniel Poneman led an interagency delegation to Braslia to launch the United StatesBrazil strategic energy dialogue.

As these talks were wrapping up, spadework was already done by bina-tional technical committees on four areas: biofuels; renewable energy and energy efficiency; oil and natural gas; and nuclear energy and nuclear security.

On the US side, besides the DOE, the discussions involved the State and Commerce Departments, the White House National Security Staff, the United States Trade and Development Agency and the Overseas Private

Investment Corporation. Brazil worked through its Ministry of Mines and Energy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Poneman and his counterpart, Mrcio Zimmermann, executive sec-retary of the MME, today announced an agreement on several joint efforts. The list is fairly long, but here are few highlights:

A Green Export trade mission to Brazil, Aug. 27Sept. 2, 2011, to promote US green technologies and services in the Brazilian market.

A workshop on Nov. 1, 2011, to share information on test methods and labeling systems to rate the energy-effi-cient performance for building products and materials, such as windows, insula-tion and cool roofs.

A workshop within the next year to assess opportunities for increased development and deployment of mid-size wind energy technologies.

Nuclear cooperation in the areas of new technology and post-Fukushima lessons learned on nuclear safety.

Forging an international frame-work for civil nuclear cooperation that will provide the benefits of low-carbon electricity while minimizing the threat of nuclear proliferation.

Like China, Brazil is a rapidly devel-oping nation with excellent resources (see the September 2009 issue of the Bulletin Ceramics in South America). It also has advanced nuclear technical capacity. It has its problems, but it has

rapidly improving education institu-tions, national labs, manufacturing and technical capabilities and infra-structure. It also is highly influential in the affairs of South America, Central America and the Caribbean region. Oddly, despite its relative proximity to the rest of the Americas, the strategic awareness and respect for Brazil in the US seems to be equivalent to how the nation lazily viewed China two decades ago. Yes, it lags todays China in many science and technology measure-ments, but its strides cant be ignored. (Actually it seems joint USBrazil sci-ence/technology research and publish-ing has been one of the bright spots for relations between the two countries.)

Unfortunately, much of the rest of the world has been making overtures to Brazil for many years. Now is a good time for the US to be trying to initiate some catching-up on the diplomatic front, and to be supporting the existing efforts in the sci-tech community.

Visit www.ceramics.org n

One step forward, one step back for MolycorpHitachi rare-earths relationship; Sumitomo deal stalled

In August Molycorp issued its quar-terly report to investors, in which it announced a master supply agreement to provide Hitachi with didymium alloy (a neodymium and praseodymium mix) and lanthanum oxide for magnet manu-facturing, but also announced it had cut off talks with Hitachi to form a joint venture to process rare-earth raw materi-als and make magnets.

The cut off of the joint venture talks is surprising because Molycorp made a big deal about it nine months ago when it became public as part of Molycorps mines-to-magnets vertical integration strategy.

Molycorps Aug. 12 news release says, The companies were unable to reach

Brazil and US are working together on energy issues.

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agreement on certain key matters affect-ing the value of the joint venture to each party. Mark A. Smith, president and CEO of the company, is quoted in the release as saying, We remain fully com-mitted to producing rare-earth permanent magnets and to capturing the highest value of our rare-earth materials through-out the supply chain. In fact, we have been in advanced discussions with other companies regarding magnet joint ven-ture opportunities for some time, and we look forward to sharing more details on these developments in the near future.

A simultaneous news release from Hitachi Metals says, Incidentally, Hitachi Metals has decided not to set up a previously contemplated joint venture to manufacture alloys for neo-dymium magnets and neodymium mag-net products with Molycorp Inc. of the United States. The decision was made after reevaluating its business strategy.

Hitachi Metals will now study the pos-sibility of manufacturing neodymium magnets on its own in the United States to meet increasing demand for neodymium magnets in North America and Europe, mainly for use in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles.

Reuters news agency reported on how Molycorps stock price jumped quite a bit, based on its aforementioned quar-terly report, but it seems that had more to do with the companys exceeding ana-lysts estimates of revenues by 30 percent.

Molycorp and another Japanese com-pany, Sumitomo, have been dallying in regard to a stock investmentloan deal. Reuters, in the same story, says it was told back in June that Sumitomo was struggling to find customers for Molycorps rare-earth products as Japanese demand for light rare-earths has plunged and prices were seen as too high. But, again according to Reuters,

Molycorps Smith now says, Theres changed circumstances. But I still think the best thing to do, for both parties, is to move forward with the deal. Its kind of a nice position to be in, because it gives us a bit better leverage to hold these negotiations.

Visit www.molycorp.com, www.hitachi-metals.co.jp n

Congress passes patent reform act

Ten years in the making, patent reform is getting close to becoming law. The LeahySmith America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) imposes a fundamental change in United States patent law. The House approved the bill in June, and the Senate passed the bill by an 899 margin on Sept. 8.

Currently, the US awards on a first-to-invent basis. The most important

See us at ICACC12, Booth 406

http://www.molycorp.comhttp://www.hitachi-metals.co.jphttp://www.hitachi-metals.co.jphttp://www.ceramics.orghttp://www.swindelldressler.com


piece of the new legislation would change awards to a first-to-file basis. The National Academy of Sciences rec-ommended adopting a first-to-file system in a 2004 report. Patent applications are either nonprovisional or provisional. An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explains the difference. In the former case, the application establishes the filing date and begins the formal exami-nation process. In the latter, the filing date is established but the patent is not entered into the examination process, hence, the oft seen patent pending. Provisional applications expire after one year and cost hundreds instead of thou-sands of dollars to file. (For a detailed discussion of the current patent process, see the story in the April 2011 Bulletin, Understanding patents and managing patent-procurement costs.)

According to the Post-Gazette article, experts expect that small companies, especially, will feel more pressure to protect their intellectual property quickly with patent applications. More applications are likely to be provisional, conserving capital and buying time for companies while they figure out how valuable the technology is likely to be.

Most foreign countries operate under

a first-to-file basis. Therefore, the leg-islation should make multi-country fil-ings more efficient.

The legislation, though, preserves one important difference for the American system. Most countries require patent filing before disclosure. Filing before disclosure is a problem, for example, for university IP because patentable concepts often are disclosed in journal articles or conferences. The pending legislation keeps the one-year grace period between disclosure and application in place.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has opened an informal public comment phase. Many of the current rules and regulations will need to be rewritten by the office within a year of passage. Therefore, they are trying to get a jump on identifying issues. Documents and information about the comment phase are available on the website.

Visit www.uspto.gov n

Medical device companies appeal to Congress and IRS to avoid excise tax in 2013

The 2010 Affordable Health Care Act includes a provision for a 2.3 per-cent excise tax to be levied against the revenues of medical device companies starting in 2013 regardless of whether the company generates a profit, which means companies could owe more in tax than they generate in profit. The tax is expected to generate $20 billion between 2013 and 2019. The tax rev-enues are part of a multi-industry excise tax plan to pay for health care coverage for the uninsured, according to a CCH Tax Briefing posted by the The Fiscal Times. Pharmaceutical and insurance companies also are being levied.

In mid-July, a coalition of more than 400 medical device companies sent letters to House and Senate leadership urging the repeal of the legislation. The industry fears that the tax will cripple its ability to be innovative.

In the letter, the industry notes

that it employs more than 400,000 workers in the United States with higher than average salaries ($58,000 vs. $42,000) and invests almost $10 billion in research and development annually. The industry has a few big players, including Stryker, Medtronic and Boston Scientific, but this is largely a start-up and small business industry with more than 80 percent of medi-cal device companies employing fewer than 50 employees. Only two percent employ more than 500.

The signatories to the letter argue that the tax will slow innovation and cost jobs by raising the effective tax rate on the companies and soak up cash that is used for R&D, clinical trials and manufacturing and that the impact will be especially hard on smaller companies whose innovations are not immediately profitable.

They also contend that health care costs will increase as the tax is passed

news & trends

Patent Office relief on the Herbert C. Hoover Building.

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Surgical grade stainless steel implants to repair fractured forearm.

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to consumers and that there wont be a windfall of increased demand for the medical devices to offset the tax. The letter states, Unlike other industries that may benefit from expanded cover-age, the majority of device-intensive medical procedures are performed on patients that are older and already have private insurance or Medicare cover-age. In the case of Medicare (and Medicaid) patients, reimbursement rates are set by the government and do not cover costs such as administra-tion or shipping. Manufacturers are not expecting adjustments to the govern-ment reimbursement rates to accom-modate the excise tax, according to an article from MedicalDeviceLink.com.

A bill was introduced last summer by Congressman Brian Bilbray to repeal the tax legislation. It must not have gotten too far because Senator Orin Hatch and Congressman Erik Paulsen also intro-

duced a repeal bill in January of this year.Meanwhile, the Center for Public

Integrity reports that the industry has asked the IRS to weigh in regarding what exactly a medical device is. It is clear that consumer devices, such as eye-glasses, contact lenses, hearing aids and any device the Treasury Department determines is generally purchased by the general public at retail for individual use, are exempt. Less clear is whether durable medical equipment, such as wheelchairs, prosthetics and orthotics, will be subject to the tax. Although the industry appears to be presenting a uni-fied front to Congress, the CPI report indicates that the industry is splintered in its approach to the IRS, each segment lobbying to protect its niche.

The CPI article also raises the issue of a tax deduction windfall, where a manufacturer could conceivably pass the excise tax cost to the customer, then take

a write-off for the tax paid. This clearly is another issue requiring IRS guidance.

In a related development, the Institute of Medicine released a report in July on the Public Health Effectiveness of the FDA 510(k) Clearance Process, the process by which medical devices and their next generations are approved. Congressional Democrats commissioned the study to determine whether the industry needed tougher regulations to ensure the safety and effectiveness of its products. Some are of the opinion that better regulation processes could have a major impact on health care spend-ing. Next-gen devices, for example, are subject to little or no clinical testing for approval, which can lead to a higher recall rate or improvement upcharges that do not necessarily correlate to improved outcomes.

Visit www.medicaldevices.org n


http://www.medicaldevices.orghttp://www.ceramics.orghttp://www.netzsch.commailto:[email protected]

12 www.ceramics.org | American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 90, No. 8

Society award nomination deadline: Jan. 15, 2012

Are your colleagues doing a great job? Do they deserve to be recognized? Yes? Then its time to submit an award nomination for them!

This is your first call for nominations for the 2012 awards. Now is the time to line up sponsors, draft a nomination and submit it for consideration for Society awards that will be presented at the annual awards banquet in October 2012.

Please review the criteria and eligibil-ity for each award below. If you know colleagues who qualify, support them by submitting a nomination.

Additional information on each of these awards, plus many division and class awards, can be found at www.ceramics.org/awards. Contact: Marcia Stout at [email protected] or 614-794-5821.

Nomination deadline for all awards is Jan. 15, 2012.

Distinguished Life Membership is ACerSs highest honor given in recog-nition of a members contribution to the ceramics profession. Nominees need to be current members of the Society who have attained professional emi-nence because of their achievements in the ceramic arts or sciences, service to the Society or productive scholarship.

W. David Kingery Award recogniz-es distinguished lifelong achievements involving multidisciplinary and global contributions to ceramic technology, science, education and art. The award is open to anyone worldwide.

John Jeppson Award recognizes dis-tinguished scientific, technical or engi-neering achievements in ceramics. The award is open to anyone worldwide.

Corporate Environmental Achievement Award recognizes a single outstanding environmental achievement made by an ACerS cor-porate member in the field of ceramics. Achievements can represent either a significant improvement of an existing process and/or product or the develop-ment and implementation of a new process and/or product. If the company being nominated is not a corporate member, it may join after nomina-tion. Joint nominations in which two or more companies have combined resources to develop a process or prod-uct can be submitted.

acers spotlight

Welcome to our newest Corporate MembersACerS recognizes organizations that joined the Society as Corporate Members

in the past few months.For more information on becoming a Corporate Member, contact Tricia

Freshour at [email protected] or visit ACerS special Corporate Member web page, www.ceramics.org/corporate.

APF Recycling Inc. Warren, Ohio

www.apfrecycling.com

Korea Institute of Industrial Technology

Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea www.kitech.re.kr

Division Awards*Several ACerS divisions will present awards at the ACerS 113th Annual

Meeting in Columbus, Ohio. Congratulations to the following deserving winners.

Glass & Optical Materials Division Awards

Alfred R. Cooper Scholars Award Winners:Peter J. LezziRensselaer Polytechnic Institute Enthalpy of Mixing of Mixed Alkali Glasses

Seth S. BerbanoIowa State UniversityFormation and Structure of Na2S + P2S5 Amorphous Materials Prepared by

Melt-Quenching

Cooper Session Distinguished Lecturer:Prabhat GuptaThe Ohio State UniversityThe Physics of Iso-Structural Viscosity

Nuclear & Environmental Technology Division Award D.T. Rankin Award Winner: John MarraSavannah River National Laboratory

* Division award information was not available at press time for the Bulletins September awards issue.

Send chapter and member news to Eileen De Guire at [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]://www.ceramics.org/corporatehttp://www.apfrecycling.comhttp://www.ceramics.org/awardshttp://www.ceramics.org/awardsmailto:[email protected]://www.kitech.re.krmailto:[email protected]://www.ceramics.org


Corporate Technical Achievement Award recognizes a single outstand-ing technical achievement made by an ACerS corporate member in the field of ceramics. The achievement must show significant technical merit and represent a gain to society through commercializa-tion of the technology within the pre-ceding eight years. If the company being nominated is not a corporate member, it may join after nomination. Joint nomi-nations in which two or more compa-nies have combined resources to develop the technology can be submitted.

Richard M. Fulrath Awards pro-mote technical and personal friendships between Japanese and American ceramic engineers and scientists and encour-age a greater understanding among the diverse cultures surrounding the Pacific Rim. The awards recognize individuals for excellence in research and develop-

ment of ceramic sciences and materials. Nominees must be 45 years old or young-er at the time of award presentation.

Karl Schwartzwalder Professional Achievement in Ceramic Engineering Award recognizes an outstanding young ceramic engineer whose achievements have been signifi-cant to the profession and to the general welfare of the American people. A nom-inee must be between 21 and 40 years of age and must be a member of NICE and ACerS. The nominee may join NICE at the time they are nominated.

Robert L. Coble Award for Young Scholars recognizes an outstanding scientist who is conducting research in academia, in industry or at a govern-ment-funded laboratory. Candidates must be an ACerS member and must be 35 years old or younger.

Edward Orton Jr. Memorial Lecturer is based on scholarly achieve-ments in ceramics or a related field.

Ross Coffin Purdy Award is given to the author or authors who made the most valuable contribution to ceramic technical literature during the calendar year prior to selection.

Richard and Patricia Spriggs Phase Equilibria Award is given to the author or authors who made the most valuable contribution to phase stability relationships in ceramic-based systems literature during the calendar year prior to selection.

GreavesWalker Lifetime Service Award is presented to an individual who has rendered outstanding service to the ceramic engineering profession and who, by life and career, has exem-

http://www.ceramics.orghttp://www.deltechfurnaces.com


plified the aims, ideals and purpose of NICE. Selection is based on the nominees professional credentials, and a summary of service to NICE and the ceramic engineering profession.

Arthur L. Friedberg Ceramic Engineering Tutorial Lecture Award is given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to ceramic engineering that relate to the processing or manufacturing of ceramic

products. The awardee must be a mem-ber of NICE and ACerS. The nominee may join NICE at the time of nomina-tion.

Ceramic Educational Council Outstanding Educator Award rec-ognizes outstanding work and creativ-ity in teaching, in directing student research or in the general educational process (lectures, publications, etc.) of ceramic educators. n

Calling all potential Emeritus members

Its that time of year when the Society reaches out to long-time mem-bers to see if they qualify for Emeritus membership. Members qualify for Emeritus rank if they, by Dec. 31, 2011, will be 65 years or older and will have completed 35 or more years of continu-ous membership in ACerS. If you meet both of these qualifications, you may be eligible for Emeritus grade.

Emeritus members dues are waived, and they get reduced meeting regis-tration rates. To find out more about Emeritus membership, please contact Marcia Stout at 614-794-5821 or email her at [email protected].

ACerS will be contacting members in September and October who, accord-ing the Societys records, meet these requirements. But as a double-check, those who think they are eligible may contact Marcia for confirmation. n

GOMD 2012 call for papersJoin the Glass & Optical Materials

Division at its annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo., for a program on the physi-cal properties and technological pro-cesses important to glasses, amorphous solids and all optical materials. The meeting will feature four symposia: Glass Science; Optical Materials and Devices; Cross-Cutting Topics; and Festschrift to the Glass Research Career of Delbert E. Day. Sessions headed by

Sun, surf and scienceStudent activities at MCARE 2012Last month the Bulletin highlighted

student activities planned for the Materials Challenges in Alternative and Renewable Energy 2012. ACerS is happy to announce two student contests at MCARE as well as free student registrations for those students participating in the contests. The meeting is Feb. 26 to March 1, 2012, in Clearwater Beach, Fla.

Two student contestsMaterials for Energy Conversion

Contest: In this contest student teams will use contest-supplied energy sources to build an energy conver-sion device that will move a volume of water up a vertical distance. The contest is open to graduate and under-graduate students. Faculty and other nonstudents may advise, but students must do all the design, assembly, test-ing and competing. The winning team will receive a cash prize and a cer-tificate. Also, the Most Innovative Design will win a cash prize and a certificate. Visit www.ceramics.org/mcare2012 for complete contest rules.

Student Poster Competition: The student poster competition allows students to showcase their materi-als research relevant to alternative and renewable energy applications. Graduates and undergraduates are eligible. During the conference, the

posters will be judged, and the win-ners will be presented with an award. Student poster abstracts are due by Nov. 12, 2011. Contact Marilyn Stoltz, at [email protected], for access to the submission web site.

For additional contest information contact Cory Bomberger at [email protected].

Free Student RegistrationsWe are happy to report that Sandia

National Laboratories and the DOEs Office of Electricity has worked with ACerS to waive conference registra-tion for students participating in either of the MCARE 2012 contest.

To receive a waived MCARE 2012 registration, email Marilyn Stoltz by Oct. 24, 2011, at [email protected]; Tel.: 614-794-5868. Please pro-vide complete contact information and indicate whether you will partici-pate in the design contest, the student poster contest or both contests. The number of waived registrations is limited, and restrictions may apply to foreign citizens.

ACerS hopes that many students take advantage of the great opportuni-ties at this years MCARE conference for students. For more information, visit the meeting web site at www.ceramics.org/mcare2012. n

CeramiC TeCh TodayCeramic Tech Today brings you

daily updates on the latest breaking news, policy and business analy-sis. Exclusively on CTT: Follow the Materials Game of the Week, where we profile two university materials science departments in the week their football teams square off. Visit: www.ceramics.org/ceramictechtoday

acers spotlight

http://www.ceramics.org/mailto:[email protected]://www.ceramics.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.ceramics.org/mcare2012http://www.ceramics.org/mcare2012http://www.ceramics.org


technical leaders from industry, government laboratories and academia will cover the latest advances in glass science and tech-nology. The poster session will highlight late-breaking research as well as the annual student poster contest. Submit your abstract today! Visit www.ceramics.org/gomd2012. n

Short courses offered by ACerSACerS is hosting three short courses during MS&T11 and

one in January at the ICACC12 meeting in Daytona Beach, Fla. Discounts are available for society members and students. Visit the website for details, www.ceramics.org/shortcourses

Modern Statistics, Data Analysis and Specimen/Structural Reliability Modeling, Oct. 16, 2011 Instructor: Steve Freiman, Freiman

ConsultingAttendees will review key concepts in statistical data analysis

and will be introduced to two powerful tools: DATAPLOT, a public domain statistical data analysis software package, and the free, downloadable pdf ebook, Engineering Statistical Handbook. Attendees will be given the fracture mechanics background and measurement protocols needed to assess the mechanical reliabil-ity of glasses and ceramics. The course will conclude with a live demonstration of the features, capabilities and user-friendliness of DATAPLOT. ACerS member $495, nonmember $585, student $175.

Fundamentals of Glass Science and Technology & Fractography Lab, Oct. 2021, 2011 Instructor: Arun K. Varshneya, Saxon Glass Technologies

The course covers basic glass science and technology to broaden or improve the students foundational understanding of glass as a material of choice. This one-and-a-half-day course covers glass science (commercial glass families, the glassy state, nucleation and crystallization, phase separation, glass structure), glass technology and batch calculations, glassmelting and glass-forming, glass properties and engineering principles and elemen-tary fracture analysis. ACerS member $695, nonmember $785, student $275.

Sintering of Ceramics, Oct. 2021, 2011 Instructor: Mohamed N. Rahaman, Missouri University of Science and Technology

This two-day course will review sintering basics, solid-state and viscous sintering, microstructure development and control, liquid-phase sintering and special topics, including effects of homogene-ities, constrained sintering of composites, adherent thin films and multilayers, dopants, reaction sintering and viscous sintering with crystallization. Case studies will include sintering of nano-ceram-ics, solid oxide fuel cell systems, ceramic-matrix composites, non-oxide ceramics and ultra-high-temperature ceramics. The course

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acers spotlight

follows key topics in the text book, Sintering of Ceramics, by M.N. Rahaman, CRC Press, and will be supplemented by detailed case studies of the sintering of specific ceramics and systems. ACerS member $695, nonmember $785, stu-dent $275.

Mechanical Properties of Ceramics and Glass, Jan. 26-27, 2012 Instructors: George D. Quinn, NIST and Richard C. Bradt, University of AlabamaLocation: Daytona Beach, Fla. in con-

junction with ICACC12In this two-day course, students

will gain a basic understanding of the mechanical properties of ceramics and glasses and their measurement. Topics covered include elastic proper-ties, strength measurements, fracture parameters and indentation hardness and the fundamentals of properties for each of these topical areas. The relationships between the structure and crystal chemistry of materials to properties will be covered, as well as standard test methods. n

New books from ACerSCheck out three great, new techni-

cal books being released in October. ACerS members receive a 20 percent discount by simply entering ceram in the promotion code box at check-out. Visit: www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/ and click on the Engineering and Materials Science button.

Advanced Structural Ceramics, by Bikramjit Basu and Kantesh Balani, 512 pages, $149.95

The book covers the area of advanced ceramic com-posites broadly, with introduc-tory chapters to fundamentals, processing and applications of advanced ceramic compos-

ites and highlighting state-of-the- art research in each of these areas. The book is organized to provide easy use by students as well as professionals. The sections cover fundamentals of nature and characteristics of ceramics, processing of ceramics, processing and properties of toughened ceramics, high-temperature ceramics, nanoceramics and nanoceramic composites, and bioc-eramics and biocomposites.

Ceramic Integration and Joining Technologies: From Macro to

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/http://www.ceramics.orghttp://www.ceramics.org/biomaterials2012




Nanoscale, Edited by Mrityunjay Singh, Tatsuki Ohji, Rajiv Asthana and Sanjay Mathur, 832 pages, $175.00

This book addresses integration issues in diverse areas such as space power and propulsion, thermoelectric power generation, solar energy, micro-electro-mechanical systems, solid oxide fuel cells, multichip modules, prosthetic devices, and implanted biosensors and stimulators. The engineering challenge of designing and manufacturing com-

plex structural, functional, and smart components and devices for these applications from smaller, geometrically simpler units requires development of new integration technology and skill-ful adaptation of existing technology. A major imperative is to extract scientific information on joining and integration response of real, as well as model, material systems currently in a developmental stage at multiple length scales that span the macro, millimeter, micrometer and nanometer ranges.

Tribology of Ceramics and Composites: Materials Science Perspective, by Bikramjit Basu and Mitjan Kalin, 552 pages, $149.95

This book helps students and practic-ing scientists understand the importance of friction and wear properties of advanced materi-als to the design and development of new materials.

The book opens with chapters on the fundamentals, processing and applica-tions of tribology and then examines in detail the nature and properties of mate-rials, the friction and wear of structural ceramics, bioceramics, biocomposites and nanoceramics as well as lightweight composites and the friction and wear of ceramics in a cryogenic environment. n

In Memoriam Russell L. Yeckley Robert L. Snyder

Some detailed obituaries also can be found on the ACerS website, www.ceramics.org/in-memoriam

http://www.ceramics.org/in-memoriamhttp://www.ceramics.org/in-memoriamhttp://www.ceramics.orghttp://www.ptx.commailto:[email protected]://www.carbolite.usmailto:[email protected]


research briefs

In August DARPA conducted its second test flight of a hypersonic vehi-cle and, unfortunately, lost communica-tion with the flight nine minutes into the test. The goal of the DARPA pro-gram is an aircraft that can reach any point in the world within one hour.

DARPA has identified three key technical challenges to hypersonic flight: aerodynamics, aerothermal effects and guidance, and navigation and control.

Hypersonic vehicles travel at speeds of 13,000 miles per hour (Mach 20) and experience surface temperatures greater than 1900C. The leading edges of these vehicles must be made of mate-rials that can withstand the extreme environment and protect the functional interiors of the vehicle from melting (for example, guidance and communi-cations systems).

Ultra-high-temperature ceramic composites are candidate materials for meeting the service requirements. For the vehicles leading edges, researchers are looking at borides, especially HfB2 and ZrB2. Transition-metal borides have typical ceramic mechanical prop-erties and brittle fracture behavior, but exhibit metallike electrical and thermal properties.

These are difficult materials to con-solidate. The conventional approach of hot pressing is not easy because of the high hardness of the powders and their very high melting points. Additives like SiC and B4C are under investigation, but very high temperatures and pressures

still are needed. Therefore, researchers have been investigating high-energy sintering methods, such as spark plasma sintering and laser sintering.

Two papers in the August issue of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society report on the properties of UHTCs fabricated by these two high-energy methods. Zhang et. al. (doi: 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2011.04411.x) studied the thermal and electrical trans-port properties of polycrystalline HfB2 and ZrB2 ceramics in the temperature range of 570C to 975C fabricated by SPS. In the work, they measured select thermal and electrical properties to evaluate the electron and phonon con-tributions to thermal transport.

Nine UHTC formulations were stud-iedseven HfB2-based and two ZrB2-basedand samples were made with and without additives. Both diborides were made with SiC additives, and the hafnium-base compositions also were made with elemental additives, includ-ing iridium, hafnium and boron.

They measured thermal diffusivity, electrical resistivity and Hall coef-ficient. From these property data, they calculated thermal conductivity, bulk carrier density and Hall mobility. The electrical conductivities for the SPS diboride materials were higher than values reported in the literature for comparable hot-pressed materials. They report thermal conductivities in the upper range of values usually reported for pure diborides and the diborideSiC

composites, but the thermal conductiv-ity of all compositions decreased with increasing temperature.

The paper notes, The low electrical resistivity and the relatively high car-rier density and Hall mobility of these diboride-based materials imply that the electronic transport contributes sub-stantially to heat transport, which they confirmed with a WiedemannFranz analysis.

For the hafnium diborides, the larg-est diboride family they studied, the researchers correlated variations in thermal and electrical conductivities to variations in porosity and grain-boundary areas per volume. They also observed that small changes in the HfB2 stoichi-ometry (boron ranging from 1.9 to 2.1) led to increases in thermal and electri-cal conductivities proportional to boron content. Because the microstructures of these compositions are so similar, the finding merits further research to discov-er the reason for the composition effect.

The second paper in the August issue of JACerS was by Sun et. al. (doi: 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2011.04457.x) This paper reports on the thermo-physical properties of Zr-ZrB2 cermets fabricated by laser sintering. Laser sintering may offer the advantage of layer-by-layer processing for freeform fabrication of components. However, proper structure formation can be tricky because of technical challenges, such as thermal shock of the component during fabrication.

Hafnium and zirconium diboride composites for leading edges of hypersonic vehicles

Artists rendition of DARPAs Falcon HTV-2 hypersonic aircraft.

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Three cermet compositions were studied: 30Zr-, 50Zr- and 70Zr-ZrB2. The temperature dependences of thermal expansion, heat capacity, thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity were measured. Thermal diffusivity and ther-mal conductivity of the 30Zr-ZrB2 were slightly lower than pure hot-pressed ZrB2 because of the formation of a small amount of ZrO2. However, values still were considered to be in a range that was useful for high-temperature applications requiring good thermal conductivity.

The heat capacity and thermal conductivity and diffusivity decreased with increased zirconium content because of the lower values of those properties for zirconium. The coeffi-cient of thermal expansion values were found to be sensitive to ZrO2 content. ZrO2 undergoes an order-disorder trans-formation between 900C and 950C, which causes a sharp increase in heat capacity for the 50Zr- and 70Zr-ZrB2 com-positions. The measurable effects of ZrO2 on thermophysical properties indicates that extreme care must be taken to mini-mize oxygen exposure when sintering Zr-ZrB2 cermets.

Other work on materials for hypersonic vehicles is being done at Teledyne in California, Missouri S&T and the Univer-sity of Virginia, with funding from the Teledyne-run National Hypersonic Science Center for Materials and Structures.

Visit www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com n

MAX exfoliation: Surprisingly simple method to make 2D graphenelike carbides

Graphene, a two-dimensional sheet of carbon, has been the subject of much research since it was discovered in 2004. Graphene is interesting, but its range of properties is limited by its supersimple chemistry. In multilayer form, weak van der Waals bonding between layers is a limiting factor, too.

If 2D materials with more complex chemistries could be made, the door would be opened to tune properties and engi-neer materials for specific applications.

Drexel University professors Yury Gogotsi and Michel Barsoum have found a process for synthesizing 2D carbides, which they describe in a new paper, Two-Dimensional Nanocrystals Produced by Exfoliation of Ti3AlC2, in Advanced Materials (doi: 10:1002/adma.201102306).

Their paper states, Complex, layered structures that contain more than one element may offer new properties, because they provide a larger number of compositional vari-ables that can be tuned for achieving specific properties.

Barsoum was among the first to work on the so-called MAX phases, which are layered ternary carbides or nitrides. MAX refers to the materials chemistry: M is an early tran-sition metal (Ti, Ta, etc.), A is an A-group metal (Al, In, Si, etc.) and X is carbon or nitrogen. So far, more than 60 MAX compounds have been identified.

The layered morphology gives them some interesting physical properties that can be metallike or ceramiclike,

http://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.comhttp://www.ceramics.orghttp://www.emhartglass.comhttp://www.glenmills.commailto:[email protected]


but their structure and chemistry also make them good precursor materials for carbide-derived carbons, which are nanostructured porous materials. CDCs are synthesized by removing the M and A with hydrofluoric acid, and have some interesting anomalous super-capicitance properties.

Wondering whether a hybrid MAX-CDC material could be synthesized, the Drexel team began experimenting with selective removal of A elements. MX compounds are chemically stable, and the A elements tend to be weakly bonded and are more reactive.

The process was surprisingly simple: They synthesized Ti3AlC2 by first ball milling and then immersing the resul-tant powders in a concentrated HF solution at room temperature. Next, they rinsed and centrifuged the mate-rial. Finally, they used cold pressing to align flakes. They characterized the flakes with XRD, SEM and TEM, and determined the chemistries with X-ray energy-dispersive spectrometry in the TEM.

By removing the aluminum (A ele-ment), they discovered they had formed a new 2D material with the composi-tion Ti3C2. Because its morphology is similar to graphene, the team refers to this class of materials as MXene. They report having formed nanosheets (a few layers thick) and conical scrolls.

Gogotsi says they have demonstrated the ability to synthesize MX com-pounds through exfoliation on a wide range of MAX compounds, including

carbonitrides. According to the paper, they already have solid evidence for the exfoliation of Ta4AlC3 into Ta4C3 flakes.

Given that the MAX compounds comprise a well-defined family of mate-rials, they seem to be good candidates for the Materials Genome Initiative concept. Gogotsi confirmed that they are: These materials are a perfect case for computational materials engineering. Its a much better and more efficient way to go after the structures of this family of materials.

The potential applications of MXene materials is wide. Ab -initio simula-tions predict that they will have large elastic moduli. By varying their surface chemistries (for example, in the paper, the surfaces are terminated by hydroxl and/or fluorine groups), interfaces and bandgaps can be tuned. The large sur-face areas and layered structure make these materials interesting candidates for Li-ion battery electrodes, pseudoca-pacitors, polymer composite fillers and other energy and electronic devices.

Visit http://nano.materials.drexel.edu/ n

Raman spectroscopy used like a GPS to map toughening in zirconia

A recent paper published in the Jour-nal of the American Ceramic Society (doi: 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2011.04737.x) by Bolon and Gentleman demonstrates a GPS-like use of polarized confocal

Raman spectroscopy to study ferroelas-tic domain transformation in ceria-stabilized zirconia. They were interested in whether or not a Raman technique could be used for in-situ, nondestruc-tive characterization of thermal barrier materials, a common application of zirconia-based materials.

Much research has been reported on toughening of zirconias. Transforma-tion tougheningincreased toughness resulting from the tetragonal to the monoclinic phase changeis the most common toughening mechanism. How-ever, transformation toughening runs up against the realities of the phase dia-

research briefs

Polarized confocal Raman spectroscopy can be used to observe in-situ ferroelastic switching of ceria-stabilized zirconia.

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gram, and the crystallographic transformation does not occur above about 800C.

Toughening that occurs above 800C is thought to be the result of ferroelastic domain formation and switching. Bolon and Gentleman define a ferroelastic material as one that contains at least two energetically equivalent orientation states, and it must be possible to move between those two states through the application of an external load.

In the case of polycrystalline tetragonal zirconia, the c-axis orientation is equally distributed between the x, y and z directions. When a load is applied, the grains where the c-axis is aligned parallel to the load undergo a reorientation so that the c-axis becomes perpendicular to the load. This is the ferroelastic switching mechanism. To increase the tough-ness of tetragonal-zirconias, energy is absorbed through the reorientation of the tetragonal domains in the presence of a stress field (from the applied load). The stress required to trigger domain switching is the coercive stress.

Raman spectroscopy usually is used as a bulk character-ization tool. In this study, the researchers used polarized confocal Raman spectroscopy to observe ferroelastic domain formation in the surface of the material. The Raman images, in effect, map out the regions where ferroelastic switching occurred under load. Those regions then can be looked at more closely using other techniques such as TEM.

The authors studied polycrystalline 18-mole-percent-ceria-stabilized zirconia. Two methods for applying loads were used: Vickers indentation and uniaxial compression in a dia-mond anvil.

The top image in the black and white graphic on page 20 is a white-light image showing the Vickers indent with a dashed line. Cracks appear as emanating from the indent, and the solid box shows a crack slashing across the lower left quadrant. The middle image is the Raman image. The bright spots are grains where the c-axis is perpendicular to the image (i.e., the computer screen), and the dark regions have c-axes oriented in the plane of the computer screen. The bright regions along the crack in the solid box are indicative of ferroelastic switching. In the center of the solid box, some faint banding appears, which also is characteristic of ferro-elastic switching. The lower image shows the banding feature in more detail.

The paper goes into a fair amount of detail regarding Raman intensities and the details of mapping them and how the Raman technique was successfully applied to both load scenarios. The authors conclude that, indeed, the results provide the first step toward the in-situ observation of fer-roelastic domain formation for tetragonal-zirconia-based materials. Like a GPS, it can guide researchers in real time to the part of the material where the action is, but different tools are needed for up-close characterization.

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Improving MgO-containing castable refractories without excessive expansion

A paper out of Brazil reports on a new binder for castable refractories. Brazil has a huge steelmaking and non-ferrous industry. Therefore, refractories also are a big business. Like-wise, refractories-related innovations are much sought after.

Refractory castables that contain magnesia are impor-tant because of MgOs high refractoriness and resistance to alkaline slags. Other oxides are in the cement (or binder, the authors preferred term) formulations, the most com-mon compound being calcium aluminate, which is versatile and easily processed. Additional common binder materials include hydratable alumina, silica and alumina colloids, and phosphates.

However, there are two drawbacks to adding MgO to bind-er formulations. First, there is a significant density mismatch between MgO and its hydrate, Mg(OH)2, which sets up com-pressive stresses that are damaging in the castable structure, an effect referred to as apparent volumetric expansion. A side effect problem is that hydrated MgO can be difficult to disperse well during mixing, which can lead to explosive spalling when the hydrate decomposes. The second drawback is that reactions between the MgO and other oxides can result in fewer refractory oxide compounds.

In the work reported by Salomo, Bittencourt and Pan-dolfelli, the goal was to develop a magnesium-based binder such that the hydration reaction would harden the castable refractory quickly while avoiding the problems of apparent volumetric expansion.

The approach was to evaluate a range of precursor MgO compounds obtained through partial calcinations of Mg(OH)2. Four particle-size ranges were studied, and cal-cined MgO additions to calcium aluminate of 3- and 6-mass percent were evaluated. The Mg(OH)2 precursors were cal-cined at temperatures ranging from 50C to 1,000C and added to calcium aluminate cement in two formulations, 3- and 6-mass percent. Four initial MgO particle-size ranges were studied. Samples were vibration cast and cured under uniform conditions and dried at temperatures ranging from 50C to 1,000C. The porosity and compressive strengths of samples were measured.

The researchers found that particle size was importantsmaller particles hydrated quickly and without excessive expansionand the extra volume could be accommodated within the porosity of the castable. The Mg(OH)2 decom-poses between 380C and 650C, and the release of water vapor and crystallographic changes create cracks and pores, increasing the specific surface area. The precursor calcination temperature that yielded the best balance between the reac-tivity of the remaining Mg(OH)2 when mixed in the calcium aluminate cement and the surface area generated by decom-position was found to be 600C. The only sample that had strength comparable to the MgO-free control sample had a 3-mass percent addition of Mg(OH)2 precursor that had been calcined at 600C and dried at 1,000C, which showed that within a narrow range, magnesia can be part of a castable binder formulation.

Significant savings can be realized if maintenance shut-downs and refractory failures are minimized.

Paper: R. Salomo, L.R.M. Bittencourt and V.C. Pandol-felli, A Novel Magnesia Based Binder (MBB) for Refractory Castables, Supplement to Interceram, 60 [2] (2011)

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ceramics in energy

Generally, nanowires are intriguing because of the possibility of improv-ing photovoltaic performances by, for example, providing more light absorption area, broadening the pho-ton collection spectrum (by using an optimized mix of nanowire composi-tions), improving antireflectivity and decreasing active materials and process-ing costs. The actual performance of nanowire-based PV cells has been dis-appointing for the most part. However, two new announcements suggest that there is progress in the effort to boost nanowire efficiency and/or lower the cost of solar cells.

One of the new approaches comes from a Swedish company, Sol Voltaics, which claims to have a novel produc-tion method that combines the low cost and substrate versatility of thin films with the high conversion efficien-cy of III-V materials.

In brief, Sol Voltaics claims two key abilities. The first is that instead of growing nanowires in expensive reactor batches, the company produces self-assembling type III-V nanowires in a continuous gas-phase flow process. The second is that the resultant nanowires can be applied to a substrate immedi-ately and directly from the aerosol flow process or stored in a liquid or as a dry powder for use at another time. Sol Voltaics says the self-assembled arrays of the nanowires are dense and can be contacted in parallel to form a solar panel of any size.

Previously, the company had learned how to use metal organic vapor-phase epitaxy to produce multijunction nanowires and also to create a vari-ety of structures, including nanotrees and coreshell heterostructures. Lars Samuelson, CSO and cofounder of Sol Voltaics (a spin off of the Nanometer Structure Consortium of Lund University), and several other investigators recently reported in

the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics (doi:10.1109/JSTQE.2010.2073681) that they had been successful with a highly efficient set-up of III-V multijunction nanow-ires grown epitaxially on silicon wafers instead of pricier germanium substrates. Further, the company implies that it is making headway in producing multi-junction nanowires through the use of its gas-phase production approach.

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab say that they have developed a low-cost approach to producing coreshell nanowire photo-voltaic materials, too, using a three-step process. They first make nanowires from cadmium sulfide, which are then partially dipped in copper sulfide for several minutes. Finally, separate metal contacts are applied to the CdS core and the resultant Cu2S shell.

For Sol Voltaics and the LBL group, the coreshell concept is of interest, because it provides a radial pn junc-

tion, with each individual nanowire serving as a photovoltaic cell, and it greatly improved the light-trapping capabilities of silicon-based photovol-taic thin films.

In a news release, Yang says The initial cadmium sulfide nanowires were synthesized by physical vapor transport using a vaporliquidsolid mechanism rather than wet chemistry, which gave us better quality material and greater physical length, but certainly they also can be made using a solution process. The as-grown single-crystalline cadmi-um sulfide nanowires have diameters of between 100 and 400 nanometers and lengths up to 50 millimeters.

Yang does not mention Sol Voltaics, but he suggests that his groups approach may have advantages over at least some aerosol methods. He says, The solution-based cation exchange reaction provides us with an easy, low-cost method to prepare high-quality heteroepitaxial nanomaterials. Furthermore, it circumvents the dif-ficulties of high-temperature doping and deposition for typical vapor-phase production methods, which suggests much lower fabrication costs and bet-ter reproducibility. All we really need are beakers and flasks for this solution-based process. Theres none of the high fabrication costs associated with gas-phase epitaxial chemical vapor deposi-tion and molecular beam epitaxy, the techniques most used today to fabricate semiconductor nanowires.

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Two approaches for using nanowires, including coreshell structures, to improve photovoltaics

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GaNGaInP core-shell nanowire (d) from the side and (e) cross section.

Schematic shows how to make a coreshell nanowire solar cell starting from left with a CdS nanowire (green) that is dipped in CuCl where cation exchange reaction creates a Cu2S shell coating (brown). Metal contacts are then deposited on the CdS core and Cu2S shell.

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ARPA-E announced a new round of seed awards, $1.5$6 million each, which the agency says will unlock a total investment of $100 million when private capital is included. The awards cover interesting enterprises that are involved with flow batteries, waste heat energy recovery via thermo-electrics, biofuels, or innovative new approaches to biofuels or waste heat recovery. It also says awards related to projects to diminish or replace reliance on rare-earth elements will be made in September. The funded projects are

Phononic Devices (ARPA-E, $3 million; private, $11 million): The company uses advanced semiconductor materials to capture and convert wasted heat produced by factories, power plants and vehicles.

Primus Power (ARPA-E, $2 mil-lion; private, $11 million): Although the ARPA-E release implies that

Primus has developed a flow battery, it may be more accurate to say that the company has developed low-cost, long-lived electrodes for flow batteries.

OPX Biotechnologies (ARPA-E, $6 million; private, $36.5 million): OPX Bio uses bacteria to produce a liquid biofuel using electricity and car-bon dioxide.

Fritz Prinz/Stanford University (ARPA-E, $1.5 million; private fund-ing, $25 million): Prinz and Stanford are commercializing their All-Electron Battery. The AEB is a new type of energy storage device based on moving electrons instead of ions and uses elec-tron/hole redox instead of capacitive polarization of a double-layer.

Transphorm (ARPA-E, $3 million; private, $25 million): Transphorm uses a system based on gallium nitride high electron mobility transistors to cut power waste during power conversion by efficiently and quickly switching electrical currents, for example, in bridge converters and inverters.

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ARPA-E awards $15.5M to leverage $108M for five clean tech innovators; says rare-earth innovations awards coming

Transphorm, one of the companies that will be receiving ARPA-E and private investment funding, uses gallium nitride transistors to tackle the current level of power conversion losses (10 percent).

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Dow KokamORNL battery agreement aligns with federal manufacturing project

Oak Ridge National Lab announced it has entered into a new $5.5 million agreement with Dow Kokam to devel-op and commercialize advanced lithi-um-ion batteries that is being touted as an example of the new Advanced Manufacturing Partnership.

ORNL has developed unique and specialized battery know-how, and with this new agreement, the lab will essen-tially supplement the Dow Kokams staff R&D efforts.

A news release from ORNL men-tions the two entities have been doing joint R&D work since early 2010 and says the new efforts will come in the areas of electrochemical and micro-structural analysis, in-line quality con-trol process development, raw-material characterization and processing battery components, technology evaluation and technical strategic advice.

The release connects the agreement to the AMP, noting it aligns directly with goals outlined in the recent report titled Ensuring American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing. The report was prepared by the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and the Presidents Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee. A key recommendation of the 25-member panel was to invest to overcome market failures, to ensure that new technologies and design meth-odologies are developed here, and that technology-based enterprises have their infrastructure to flourish.

Dow Kokam is jointly owned by Dow Chemical Co., TK Advanced Battery LLC and Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault. The company is focused on developing large-format (i.e., transportation-scale) batteries, based on Li-ion technologies primarily using a nickel manganese cobalt composition.

The funding for the ORNL support work likely links back to a recent $4.9

million DOE grant to Dow Kokam to develop Li-ion cells that have energy densities greater than 500 watt-hours per liter.

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Imaging the electrochemical reaction in solid oxide fuel cells

The key reaction in a solid oxide fuel cell is the oxygen reduction reaction that occurs at the triple-phase boundary. The triple-phase boundary is where the solid electrolyte, catalyst and gas are in

Large-format lithium-ion battery displayed at 2010 Paris Motor Show.

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contact. It is a very difficult region to characterize, but, if the electrochemical reactions could be observed or imaged, it should be possible to understand the fundamental mechanisms control-ling the materials performance and to design improved materials.

If we can find a way to understand the operation of the fuel cell on the basic elementary level and determine what will make it work in the most optimum fash-ion, it would create an entirely new win-dow of opportunity for the development of better materials and devices, says Amit Kumar in an ORNL press release.

Kumar is lead author of a new paper out of Oak Ridge National Laboratory that describes using electrochemical strain microscopy to directly measure oxygen reduction/evolution reactions and oxygen vacancy diffusion on ion conducting solid surfaces, such as yttria-stabilized zirconia.

A new technique, ESM measures electrochemical reactivity and ionic current in solids on a scale of 10 nano-meters or less. By applying a periodic bias to a scanning probe microscopy tip in contact with the surface, ionic move-ment is induced, the surface deforms and the deformations are mapped. As explained in Asylum Researchs web-site (Asylum partnered with ORNL to develop the technique), The intrinsic link between concentration of ionic species and/or oxidation states of the host cation and molar volume of the material results in electrochemical strain and surface displacement.

Regarding the importance of the capability afforded by ESM, coauthor and ACerS member Sergei Kalinin says, When you want to understand how a fuel cell works, you are not interested in where single atoms are, youre interested in how they move in nanometer-scale volumes. The mobile ions in these solids behave almost like a liquid. They dont stay in place. The faster these mobile ions move, the bet-ter the material is for a fuel cell applica-tion. Electrochemical strain microscopy is able to image this ion mobility.

ESM can be used to characterize ionic conductivity for other applica-tions as well, such as lithium batteries, metalair batteries and semiconductors.

Kalinin, coleader for Functional Imaging on the Nanoscale at ORNL,

said in an email, The ORR/OER directly underpin the operation of fuel cells and metalair batteries, and, hence, their probing on the level of a single electrocatalytic nanoparticle or structural defect is of direct inter-est for energy storage and conversion. Furthermore, these processes can severely affect (through oxygen non-stoichiometry) the functionality of the materials of interest for condensed mat-ter physics community. After all, mate-rials used in fuel cellsmanganites, cobaltites, etc.are the same as those studied for colossal magnetoresistance or nanoscale phase separation.

The paper is Measuring oxygen reduction/evolution reactions on the nanoscale, A. Kumar et. al., Nature Chemistry, 3, 707713 (2011) doi:10.1038/nchem.1112.

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ceramics in energy

Electrochemical strain microscopy images ion mobility. The overlay shows electrochemical activity of platinum nanoparticles on a yttria-stabilized zirco-nia surface, showing ionic activity along t