Asbestos particles photographed under a scanning electron microscope. (Credot: Wikipedia Commons.)

Recently we gave our readers the opportunity to suggest an item for viewing under a scanning electron microscope. The ideas have been great, but we want more!

Check out this post that gives details about the microscope and its capabilities. What would you like to see? Leave a comment and let us know!

The Energy Innovation track at the Ceramic Leadership Summit June 21-22 in Baltimore, Md., will highlight advances and challenges facing the the future of energy creation, harvesting and storage. Nuclear energy, solid-oxide fuel cells and sodium metal halide batteries are just a sample of the topics to be covered by industry leaders.

Here are the abstracts for the planned presentations in this track -

Enabling a nuclear renaissance: ‘Better, faster, cheaper’ using advanced ceramics (John Marra, associate lab director, Savannah River National Lab)

The nuclear industry is at the eye of a perfect storm with fuel oil and natural gas prices near record highs, worldwide energy demands increasing at an alarming rate, and increased concerns about greenhouse gas emissions that have caused many to look negatively at long-term use of fossil fuels.  This convergence of factors has led to a growing interest in revitalization of the nuclear power industry within the United States and across the globe. This session will discuss the critical role that ceramic materials play throughout the entire fuel cycle and the critical role of materials advancements in the nuclear renaissance.

Next steps for fuel cells (Two presentations: Robert Rose, Robert Rose, senior advisor, US Fuel Cell Council; Claus Peter Kluge, R&S manager, CeramTec AG)

(Rose) Fuel cells are entering early markets in consumer products, generators of electricity; combined heat and power systems, industrial vehicles, and much more. Solid oxide systems are being developed for many of these markets, and the DOE envisions SOFC systems as simplifying and reducing the cost of carbon sequestration from coal. Rose will discuss the fuel cell vision, and the steps needed to make the vision a reality.

(Kluge) There was and is a fascination for converting energy only in two main portions: heat and electricity. There is no need for moving parts like pistons which will generate additional parasitic losses like friction and noise. Where we come from defines the state-of-the-art. Future technological, social and environmental aspects will define the way to go. The goal is to decrease costs and complexity in the customers’ cognition and to morph the specialty into a high volume standard product. The challenges are material development and processing to get well-defined, efficient and reliable products.

An industry perspective: Development and application of ceramic materials for efficient and clean power generation (William Treadway, group leader for ceramics and deputy department leader for the Physical Sciences Department, United Technologies Research Center; Ellen Sun, principal research scientist, UTRC)

UTRC is the central research organization for United Technologies Corporation - a world leader in the development and integration of energy efficient and clean power generation systems. The presentation will share UTRC’s experience in materials development, component testing, and system or sub-system demonstration and discuss material needs for near-term efficient and low emission power systems.

Materials for advanced sodium metal halide batteries (Mohamed Rahmane, senior engineer/project leader, GE Global Research)

The world needs large-scale energy storage devices and systems that are safe, reliable and economical. There are currently very few economically viable and technically feasible storage solutions that are dispatchable and meet the stringent cost and reliability demands. High-energy-density sodium metal halide battery technology is emerging as one of the key solutions, and GE is addressing the technology challenges and taking it to the manufacturing and commercial stages. This presentation will discuss the critical role that materials, particularly ceramics, play in the performance and life of sodium metal halide batteries.

The Ceramic Leadership Summit offers cutting edge industry discussion by the world’s scientific leaders. Become a part of the future of ceramics. Register now.

In honor of Earth Day, The American Ceramic Society launched a contest on Ceramic Tech Today inviting readers to share stories and anecdotes on the important role that ceramics play in green and renewable energy.

Congratulations to all that entered our Earth Day celebration contest. It’s time to announce the winners!

The grand prize winner is … *drum-roll please*

Jared Deutsch
Materials Engineering, University of Alberta

New developments in materials engineering often lead to cleaner, greener technologies. One example is the work to develop new automotive technologies which use lighter materials to save on gas. The use of magnesium alloys in cars which have the potential to provide an even lighter solution compared with aluminum alloys and the developing SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) industry are two examples. The high temperatures and thermal cycling of the fuel cells means that new ceramics that can withstand these conditions are needed. Even if scientists and engineers can develop a method of producing hydrogen cheaply, the materials for the fuel cells will require solid materials engineering to develop the ceramics for this. If we as materials scientists and engineers can solve this complicated problem then fuel cell cars may be in the near future.

Congrats, Jared! You won an H-Racer Fuel Cell remote control car!

Our two runners up are:

Laura Adkins and Michael Kottman. They won solar-powered robot kits!

Laura wrote:

I worked on a research project, several summers ago, with a company developing new uses for waste glass. My work was focused on refining the production parameters for a foamed glass product that absorbed water and could be used as a replacement for pearlite in potting soil. Not only does the product use waste glass regardless of composition, it replaces a material that otherwise would be strip-mined from the earth. Admittedly, this is just a small example of how materials research can benefit the environment, but every bit counts.

Michael wrote:

During the ‘Green’ revolution, materials have been and will be the driving force for market feasibility for new, cleaner technologies. From development of fuel cells to expansion of solar and wind power, material cost and lifespan can typically be identified as the limiting economic factor for feasibility. For example, cheaper, yet efficient, ceramics for use in solid oxide fuel cells are the only way to make SOFCs a readily available technology. Additionally, new choices for materials used in wind turbines would be able to minimize their downtime, which is one of the largest difficulties in cultivating wind power.

The response was great. We had 23 readers offer informative stories and lessons on the technological breakthroughs and barriers within the ceramics science community. Everyone who participated will be getting an appropriate Earth Day prize.

The rest of our contestants will receive an LED key light, hydro clock, UFO solar balloon, or a ceramic levitation disk magnet.

Keep an eye out for more contests and giveaways sponsored by ACerS. Get involved in the community discussions and you could win, too!

Click here to read more of the entries. Congratulations to all!

ACerS’ Ceramic Leadership Summit is fast approaching. Unlike purely technical meetings, the Ceramic Summit fosters a participative environments that delivers the opportunity to discuss, listen and learn with some of the most influential people in the field of ceramics and glass.

The Summit will host four general sessions:

• Emerging Business and Technology Opportunities and Challenges for the Ceramics Community;
• Materials for a Secure and Stable Energy Future;
• The Future of Ceramic Education: Changing Needs, Changing Realities; and
• Ten in Ten: Ceramic Technologies that Will Transform the World.

Over the next few weeks we will be highlighting each of the general sessions. Today’s spotlight is on Emerging Business and Technology Opportunities and Challenges for the Ceramics Community.

The Session will feature some of the best and brightest in the ceramics industry: Rodney Lanthorne, vice-chairman of Kyocera; Joel Moskowitz, CEO and president of Ceradyne; and David Morse, senior vice president and director of research at Corning Inc.

Lanthorne, Moskowitz and Morse will share their perspectives on the economic, political, societal, technological and environmental opportunities and challenges facing the ceramic materials and technologies community. Their talks will be followed by a facilitated dialogue with the audience.

The other three general sessions will have a similar presentation/facilitated discussion structure.

Summit participants will also have the chance to participate in affinity group lunches and extended Q&A periods, and identify potential strategic directions for your organization.

There will also be four concurrent tracks on the second day of the meeting:

• Energy Innovations;
• Defense Innovations;
• Ceramic Frontiers; and
• Business & Research Environment.

The Summit is open to all and has been designed to be particularly beneficial for business executives, senior researchers and academics, university administrators, government agency policy makers and ACerS leaders.

Register to attend this authoritative forum.

Explore the advances ceramic and glass materials are making in energy, transportation, space, medicine, electronics and construction in the pages of the ACerS monthly Bulletin.

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