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A corrosion prevention project, led by Missouri S&T researchers Bill Fahrenholtz and Matt O’Keefe, was named a “2012 Project of the Year.” Credit: Missouri S&T.

Corrosion nibbling away on a $30 million F-15 fighter jet is a bad thing, and the paint covering one is more than camouflage—it is a sophisticated multilayer coating system that also provides corrosion protection.

A typical coating system comprises an inorganic conversion coating, a primer and a topcoat. A conversion coating is not applied directly; rather, the surface of the metal is “converted” into a coating layer by means of a chemical or electrochemical reaction. Anodizing is an example of a conversion coating. Presumably, the native oxides on metallic surfaces could be classified as a type of conversion coating, too.

Chromate conversion coatings are among the most effective corrosion-inhibiting coatings for aluminum. Most aircraft are constructed of aluminum base alloys, and, obviously, avoiding corrosion is highly desirable. Unfortunately, hexavalent chromium is carcinogenic to humans, and, in 2009, DOD committed to eliminating chromate conversion coatings from its aircraft fleet.

What to replace them with is the question that a group at the Missouri University of Science and Technology is addressing. ACerS Fellow and Society director, Bill Fahrenholtz, is working with Missouri S&T metallurgist, Matt O’Keefe, on rare earth base corrosion-inhibiting coatings. The project was named one of only six “2012 Projects of the Year” by DOD’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program. SERDP’s mission is to “meet DOD’s environment challenges,” through programs it sponsors in partnership with EPA and DOE.

Fahrenholtz and O’Keefe have been studying coatings incorporating rare-earth compounds of cerium and praseodymium and the mechanisms by which they inhibit corrosion. Their experiments show that rare-earth compounds are not inherently protective compounds, but, in the right circumstances, they are good alternatives to chromate coatings. Cerium-based compounds work well as corrosion protective conversion coatings. Praseodymium-based inhibitors are dispersed in the primer coating, where they migrate to the surface to inhibit corrosion.

The group is studying the coatings on substrates made of two aluminum base alloys commonly used in aerospace applications, 2024-T3 and 7075-T6. Both are susceptible to localized galvanic corrosion.

The quality of the Ce-base conversion coating is strongly dependent on processing parameters, especially surface preparation. Aluminum is an electrochemically active material, which narrows the window where good coatings are achievable. In a phone interview, Fahrenholtz says, “We walk a fine line between getting a panel that is electrochemically active enough to make the coating, but not so active that it dissolves away.” Within that narrow window, he says, processing conditions that produce the best coatings also tend to favor formation of subsurface crevices.

According to Fahrenholtz, the Ce coating covers 90 percent or more of the surface and prevents corrosion by forming a simple barrier layer. However, up to 10 percent of the surface may be exposed to crevices. Using element mapping tools, such as focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy, the team determined that oxides form within the crevices; during the salt spray exposure, corrosion products build up within the crevice, effectively closing it as it fills with oxide and providing a self-limit to the extent of corrosion. However, they also found that the corrosion protection of the cerium conversion coatings is strongly dependent on the phase, structure, pH and processing parameters. When processed properly, the conversion coating meets the military requirement to inhibit corrosion for two weeks in the ASTM B117 salt spray test.

Praseodymium-base inhibitors are not used as coatings themselves; rather, Pr₂O₃ or Pr₆O_{11 powders} are dissolved in the epoxy primer coating. The dissolved praseodymium ions inhibit corrosion of the substrate by migrating through the primer to the intermetallic, electrochemically active areas of the substrate, where it forms a compound over the intermetallic regions. Fahrenholtz says the compound that forms is a praseodymium hydroxycarbonate, however, the exact phase and composition are not know. “It is a really difficult compound to isolate,” he says.

The Pr-epoxy primer approach was recognized in 2007 as a R&D 100 winner. Deft, Inc. (Irvine, Calif.) is an industrial partner on the project and incorporates the Pr inhibitors in several of its primer products.

Sounding a little like a proud father, Fahrenholtz says “Because this is now a commercial product, it’s pretty much a finished project, and our work on it is done.”

The coatings are already in-service on F-15 aircraft and Apache helicopters, and there are plans to apply them to other military aircraft systems.

Work continues, however, on the Ce conversion coatings. Fahrenholtz says there are applications for this family of coatings in commercial aviation, military aviation and automotives. He says automobile weight reduction, for example, drives the development of materials like aluminum and magnesium, which are more reactive and need to be protected from the environment.

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APC publishes free piezo calculator iPhone, iPad app

APC International Inc. has announced the release of its APCPiezoCalc iPhone and iPad app. The app is an interactive mobile application that allows the user to easily calculate the frequency constant, resonance frequency, capacitance, dielectric constant, static displacement and static voltage of many piezoelectric ceramic elements. To make calculations easier, the APCPiezoCalc is preloaded with the material properties of APC’s piezoelectric materials. To allow for a broader use, the user is also able to add custom material properties. “APC’s customer service team is frequently asked how to calculate the physical and electrical properties of our piezo products. We developed this app so that our customers would be able to easily compute the most common physical and electrical properties of our products without the need to memorize formulas or look up material properties. We believe the APCPiezoCalc showcases APC’s commitment to a high level of customer service and innovative thinking by providing our customers with a valuable tool that, until now, had not been provided by anyone in the industry,” says APC VP Alexander Henderson. The app is available for free for a limited time in the Apple App Store.

Schott NA and Space Photonics Inc. sign agreement for covert communications technology

Space Photonics Inc. and Schott North America Inc. announced that they have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for the commercialization of LaserFire free space optical communications systems for military and intelligence customers. The covert communications technology enables uninterrupted, secure communications: building-to-building, vehicle-to-vehicle and tower-to-tower-where high-capacity fiber optic cable has been damaged or is not available, particularly in RF-denied environments. Many free space optical communication systems use a large beam to maintain their links. The LaserFire system, however, incorporates a patented automated beam pointing, acquisition and tracking technique. This ensures a more robust network when optimal performance is critical, regardless of available bandwidth, distance, adverse weather conditions or movement. Further, since the terminal uses low-power infrared lasers, it is nearly impossible for adversaries to detect and intercept the beam while the system is operating, providing the ultimate intelligent gateway and enabler for covert operations. Space Photonics Inc., lauded for its outstanding leadership in the SBIR program, recently completed development of the LaserFire system under a four-year Air Force Research Lab Phase III contract. In selecting Schott as the manufacturer and distributor of the LaserFire system, Space Photonics secured an expert partner recognized in the defense community for delivering high-quality components for use in night vision goggles, lasers, advanced imaging fiber optics, and transparent armor window systems.

Setaram offers new µSC microcalorimeter

Setaram is pleased to announce the release of our all new microcalorimeter, the µSC, featuring the widest temperature range for a microcalorimeter (-40-200°C); high sample throughput with a total of two measuring wells, easily removable and reusable cells; and zero cross talk is achieved, even in the most sensitive isothermal operations by utilizing two independent reference. High-precision isothermal and scanning operations are available to enable the study of both transitions and long-term isothermal behavior, such as stability and long term reactions. The μSC features the very latest evolution of the proven high performance Calvet 3D Sensor using state of the art Peltier elements that surround the sample, together with direct (Joule Effect) calibration. New developments in heat exchangers and temperature control using multiple stage thermal elements allow us to control temperature highly precisely.

Utah’s Ceramatec awarded $3.8M in energy grants

(Salt Lake Tribune) Ceramatec Inc. has been awarded two DOE grants to pursue the development of its cutting-edge research. The two grants worth a combined $3.8 million are part of 66 research projects chosen by the DOE’s ARPA-E to receive a total of $130 million in funding. Ceramatec, which focuses its research and development efforts on advanced ceramics material technology that can be used in the energy and environmental industries, will receive more than $1.7 million to develop a small-scale membrane reactor to convert natural gas into transportable liquids in one step. ARPA-E noted that many remote oil wells burn natural gas as a by-product because it is not economical to store or transport. Such natural gas contains energy that equals 20 percent of annual US electricity product and capturing that energy would reduce both waste and green house gas emissions. Ceramatec also will receive over $2.1 million to develop a solid-state fuel cell that operates at temperature ranges similar to internal combustion engines. The ARPA said the company’s design would allow for low-cost materials and catalysts that demonstrate high performance without the need for expensive components. The project will involve Ceramatec engineering a fuel cell stack that performs at lower cost than current automobile engine designs.

Evans Analytical Group acquires SEAL Labs

EAG, a leading, fully integrated, independent laboratory network, providing high value expert analytical and testing services to a wide range of industries and end users, announced that it has acquired Scanning Electron Analysis Laboratories Inc. SEAL will be operating as a business unit within the EAG Materials Characterization division. SEAL has a long history in metallurgy, destructive physical analysis, SEM, residual gas analysis and surface analysis. SEAL has extensive expertise in metals, alloys, composites, glass and plastics, and assists leading corporations and legal firms around the world in analyzing product failures. Clients of SEAL have relied on the company’s expertise for more than 40 years. The work conducted at SEAL is highly specialized and the team has extensive experience in metallurgy and chemistry, often working as consultants and expert witnesses for litigation support.

New market report: Innovations in crystalline silicon PV 2013 - Markets, strategies and leaders in nine technology areas

Times are tough across the crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV supply chain. Overcapacity has contributed to crashing prices and negative profit margins, and equipment vendors are challenged to sell new equipment to companies with idled lines. Innovation is one way out of this current mess. Never before has the pressure been so intense to improve every aspect of PV technology, including cell efficiency, materials costs, equipment costs, equipment throughput, installed system costs, and energy delivery in the field. The potential rate of technological innovation is overwhelming and the impacts on module cost, performance and reliability are difficult to understand or predict. This 262-page report helps readers navigate these factors. In this report, Greentech Media market researchers explore nine topics of innovation within the c-Si PV industry that are distributed evenly between the wafer, cell and module. The nine technology areas covered are quasi-mono wafers, diamond wire sawing, kerfless wafers, elective emitters, reduced-silver metallization, dielectric-passivated backside cell architectures, conductive adhesives, encapsulant alternatives to EVA and frameless and plastic-framed module designs. GTM also offers this podcast of report author Andrew Gabor talking about this research:

Simio releases version 5 with a novel approach to modeling flow

Simio announced that it has issued release 5 of its modeling software and continues to introduce innovations that are changing the landscape of simulation and stimulating new development across the industry. Many of its customers have cited Simio’s flexibility, ease-of-use and great support among the reasons why they have adopted Simio-often switching so they can do things that are difficult or impossible with other products. Simio is ready to take on your most demanding modeling tasks and a wealth of new features recently have been added. One major development effort is a Flow Library for modeling processes of bulk, mass and liquid flows of materials. Simio employs a novel approach to modeling flow by allowing entities to change shapes and transfer weight or volume at a specified rate. Any entity in Simio can now be displayed either as symbol or as geometric shape that changes size with changes in volume. For example a pile of ore might be represented by a single entity that is displayed as a symbol that changes size as it transfers its volume to a new location over time.

Federal agencies to hold workshop on the design of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation

Several US agencies are working together to organize the first workshop in a new series of public meetings devoted to reviewing and refining the suggested design for a new National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. Entitled “Blueprint for Action I,” the event will be held on Jan. 16, 2013, at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, US Space and Rocket Center, in Huntsville, Ala. The NNMI is a collaborative effort to improve the US manufacturing sector’s competitiveness and innovation performance, focusing on the scale-up of new product and process technologies. It will engage small, medium-sized and large manufacturers; universities and community colleges; state and local governments; economic development organizations; and other stakeholders. Broad participation by these various sectors is essential in shaping the future Institutes and Network. The workshop is sponsored by the interagency Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, in cooperation with stakeholders and local organizations. The Department of Defense will host the event and additional support is being provided by NASA and the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

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Artist’s rendering of example of nanostructured silica (orange) as a drug delivery vehicle. Credit: PNNL, Univ. of Washington.

Viktoria Greanya is the senior manager for nanomaterials research for a part of DOD’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency that focuses on chemical and biological technologies (DTRA CB). Greanya’s group is looking for proposals related to developing what she terms Nanostructured Active Therapeutic Vehicles that can be used in two specific applications—NATVs for protection against certain nerve agents and deliver antibiotics to fight a gram-negative pathogen—and Greanya have asked us to publicize solicitation for proposals:

The DTRA CB is looking to fund research in its Nanostructured Active Therapeutic Vehicles program to develop nanostructured material vehicles capable of active detection of insult/threat and release of in vivo therapeutic payloads in prophylactic or pre-symptomatic administration of targeted therapies. If successful, this research will not only demonstrate proof of concept delivery in two areas of high priority chem–bio defense need but also develop broadly applicable material design and fabrication capabilities. The program is expected to have a wide-ranging impact on in-vivo and in-vitro technologies, such as implants, therapeutics, detection and diagnostics.

Fine tuning of, morphology, charge, and functionalization and other features of nanomaterials provides a number of available “knobs” that can be used to functionally optimize these materials for their use and operation within the human body. The addition of targeting moieties to these systems enables direction of the therapeutic payload directly to the cell, tissue or organ in need potentially reducing required dosage and toxicity. In addition, nanomaterials can be designed to sense and respond to stimuli, which offer the tantalizing possibility of prophylactic or presymptomatic treatment without the concern of exposing the body unnecessarily to potential harsh side effects.

The ability to develop a therapeutic carrier, or vehicle, for delivery in the body, and to control the location, duration, and behavior of the therapeutic once it enters the body, has produced a significant amount of work relating to cancer therapies. However, the concerns of the DOD’s Chemical and Biological Defense Program relate to acute insults. These threats, such as nerve agent or pathogenic organism exposure, may have extremely short treatment windows, where onset of symptoms is already too late to avoid incapacitation, debilitation or death. To be effective as a mitigation and/or countermeasure strategy for DOD’s needs, active therapeutic vehicles must be designed for prophylactic or presymptomatic application, which thus far have received little attention.

Research will focus in two specific areas: delivery systems for small-molecule antibiotics to fight against Gram-negative bacterial pathogens and delivery systems for the large-molecule bioscavenger butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) to deliver broad spectrum protection against nerve agents. By the conclusion of the 48-month program, researchers will be able to show how they will improve circulation times by an order of magnitude or better, sense and release therapeutic payloads on trigger, and improve performance compared to current treatments.

DTRA CB is currently soliciting innovative multidisciplinary proposals. The NATV solicitations can be found in Amendment 30 to the DTRA-Chemical and Biological Broad Agency Announcement (HDTRA1-12-CHEM-BIO-BAA), and Amendment 8 to the DTRA-Fundamental Research Broad Agency Announcement (HDTRA1-09-14-FRCWMD-BAA) or via the DTRA-CB Service call (by request). Eligibility requirements for each solicitation differ, please read the solicitations carefully. Questions can be sent via email to NATV.

Greanya can also be contacted via her email.

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September California workshop to explore plans for National Network for Manufacturing Innovation

The Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office, in partnership with state and national organizations, is inviting interested parties to the third in a series of regional workshops to introduce and encourage public discussion of a planned National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. “Designing for Impact III: Workshop on Building the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation” will be held on Sept. 27, 2012, at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. Local hosts and co-organizers for this workshop event include the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academies’ University-Industry Research Roundtable and University-Industry Demonstration Partnership, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and UC Irvine. The AMNPO was established to coordinate federal resources and programs across agencies to enhance technology transfer to U.S. manufacturers. The office is hosted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in partnership with DOD, the Department of Education, DOE, NASA and NSF.

How to line a thermonuclear reactor

(Science Now) Since no perfect material exists, the plan is to compromise and use two different materials. Most of the first wall would be coated with beryllium, which is the least plasma-polluting metal but has a low melting point if it comes into contact with the plasma. At the bottom of the torus is a structure called the divertor, which is like the reactor’s exhaust pipe because it extracts helium from the plasma. The divertor is deliberately in contact with the plasma and so needs a tougher coating. For this, the plan is to use tungsten, which can withstand the heat in the divertor region-lower than in the bulk of the plasma-but if some does get eroded away, it poisons the plasma pretty badly. The tungsten elements of the divertor “are designed to handle steady heat flows twice as large as those experienced by the nose cone of the Space Shuttle on reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere,” says physicist Richard Pitts, leader of the Plasma-Wall Interaction and Divertor Physics Group at ITER.

Dimensional study of the caging order parameter at the glass transition

(PNAS) The glass problem is notoriously hard and controversial. Even at the mean-field level, little is agreed upon regarding why a fluid becomes sluggish while exhibiting but unremarkable structural changes. It is clear, however, that the process involves self-caging, which provides an order parameter for the transition. It is also broadly assumed that this cage should have a Gaussian shape in the mean-field limit. Here we show that this ansatz does not hold. By performing simulations as a function of spatial dimension d, we find the cage to keep a nontrivial form. Quantitative mean-field descriptions of the glass transition, such as mode-coupling theory, density functional theory, and replica theory, all miss this crucial element. Although the mean-field random first-order transition scenario of the glass transition is qualitatively supported here and non-mean-field corrections are found to remain small on decreasing d, reconsideration of its implementation is needed for it to result in a coherent description of experimental observations.

Singapore team’s 100,000 DPI image pushes limits of resolution

(Wired) A method of printing nanometer-tall pillars has been used to create full-colour images with a resolution pushing up against the maximum theoretical limit. The Singapore-based team, who describe their work in a paper in Nature Nanotechnology, created pixels using tiny nanoscale posts, with silver and gold nanodiscs on top. The distance between these structures, and their diameter, sets the colour of light that they reflect. As proof of concept, the researchers, based at Singpore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research, printed a 50 x 50 micrometer image of Lena Söderberg, a Swedish model from a 1972 issue of Playboy magazine, often used in image processing experiments. They used electro-beam lithography to cover a silicon wafer with pillars made from an insulating material, then deposited the nanodiscs on top and coated the surface of the wafer with metal to reflect the coloured light and make the image brighter. The resulting image came in at an impressive 100,000 DPI resolution. That’s right up at the maximum possible resolution that can be achieved. Even under the best microscope, a limit can be reached due to the wavelength of visible light. The other benefit of using nanostructures to create colour is that they’ll never fade. So long as the pillars don’t corrode and change shape, the image won’t change over time.

Making stretchable electronics: Startup prepares to manufacture electronics that conform to skin, arteries, and organs

(Technology Review) MC10, a startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is getting ready to commercialize high­performance electronics that can stretch. The technology could lead to such products as skin patches that monitor whether the wearer is sufficiently hydrated, or inflatable balloon catheters equipped with sensors that measure electrical misfiring caused by cardiac arrhythmias. Microelectronics have long “depended on a rigid, brittle wafer,” says David Icke, MC10’s CEO. MC10 uses a few tricks to change that. To make both the hydration-­sensing patch and the catheter, gold electrodes and wires just a few hundred nanometers thick are deposited on silicon wafers by conventional means, then peeled off and applied to stretchable polymers. The serpentine wires elongate when the polymers stretch, either when the balloon inflates in the heart or as the patch moves around on the skin. The electrodes measure electrical impedance to detect the electrical signals in cardiac tissue or moisture levels in the skin. The company is building on lab prototypes made by University of Illinois materials scientist John Rogers, a company cofounder. Rogers’s technologies have advantages over other approaches to flexible electronics. For example, organic polymer electronics can only bend, not stretch, and they are slower than devices made of inorganic semiconductor materials or precious metals such as gold, so they can’t provide precise real-time biological readings.

New solar panels made with more common metals could be cheaper and more sustainable

(ACS) Shingles that generate electricity from the sun, and can be installed like traditional roofing, already are a commercial reality. But the advance-a new world performance record for solar cells made with “earth-abundant” materials—could make them more affordable and ease the integration of photovoltaics into other parts of buildings, the scientists said. The new photovoltaic technology uses abundant, less-expensive materials like copper and zinc—”earth-abundant materials”—instead of indium, gallium and other so-called “rare earth” elements. These substances not only are scarce, but are supplied largely by foreign countries, with China mining more than 90 percent of the rare earths needed for batteries in hybrid cars, magnets, electronics and other high-tech products. At the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, Harry Atwater and James C. Stevens described successful efforts to replace rare earth and other costly metals in photovoltaic devices with materials that are less-expensive and more sustainable. Atwater and Stevens described development and testing of new devices made with zinc phosphide and copper oxide that broke records for both electrical current and voltage achieved by existing thin-film solar energy conversion devices made with zinc and copper. The advance adds to evidence that materials like zinc phosphide and copper oxide should be capable of achieving very high efficiencies, producing electricity at a cost approaching that of coal-fired power plants. That milestone could come within 20 years, Atwater said.

Synthesizing binary metal oxide nanotubes

(MaterialsViews) Binary metal oxide nanotubes are an important emerging class of materials because of their potential applications in many fields such as catalysis and ferroelectrics. Although template-assisted synthesis based on interfacial reaction is one of the most effective approaches for preparing hollow, single metal oxide (MO_x) structures, this method is rarely employed for the synthesis of hollow binary metal oxide (M₁-M₂O_x) structures. Now, a new, simple avenue for the general synthesis of hollow structured binary oxide has been reported by Guozhu Chen, Federico Rosei, and Dongling Ma from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique in Montreal, Canada. The researchers described an interfacial oxidation/reduction-directed synthesis of hollow binary oxide structures with different shapes (nanotubes and nanocubes) and compositions (Ce-MnO_x, Co-MnO_x and Ce-FeO_x). For example, Ce-MnO_x nanotubes were fabricated by treating Ce(OH)CO₃ templates with KMnO₄ solution. Such formed Ce-MnO_x nanotubes exhibit good catalytic activity in CO oxidation and adsorption performance in water treatment.

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Data. It is the lifeblood of science and engineering. Researchers and engineers use it to model, design, benchmark, evaluate, monitor and compare. But, how easy is it to find, what kinds are needed, how good is it and how accessible is it? These are the questions that a workshop held earlier this week began to address.

The workshop was organized by Steve Freiman and John Rumble, and with support from DOD. Freiman and Rumble (with Lynnette Madsen), you may recall, started bringing the issue of data and databases to the attention of the ceramics community with an article in the ACerS’ Bulletin in March 2011.

Today’s data needs are driven by increased use of modeling and simulation tools in research and development across the full spectrum of engagement: academia, national labs, big industry and start-up innovators.

Recent federal-level initiatives are big drivers of the demand for data, too. The drumbeat of the Materials Genome Initiative since its introduction a year ago is to spur the leveraging computational tools to reduce the time from innovation to marketplace by at least half. Similarly, since its establishment in 2000, the National Nanotechnology Initiative is driving the use of data, informatics and computation for nanotechnology development. (For example, there is a new NNI undertaking, “Nanotechnology Knowledge Infrastructure: Enabling National Leadership in Sustainable Design,” which will develop computational tools in a multidisciplinary and collaborative culture in close concert with MGI.)

The Freiman-Rumble workshop was titled, “E-Ceramics: Prospects and Challenges for Improved Access to Ceramics Property Data.” E-Ceramics refers specifically to electronic access to ceramic materials property data. The goals of the workshop were to assess what data resources are available now, what are the continuing challenges and to ask what the future is for ceramic materials data innovations.

In his introductory remarks, Freiman noted, “Materials are constantly changing. Other research fields that use a lot of data—the human genome, biology, chemistry, the study of chemicals, crystals and stars—don’t change as much. But, any small change [in a ceramic] means you are likely to change properties.”

“There’s data out there, it’s just not easy to come by,” Freiman says. He cited as examples of existing databases the ACerS-NIST Phase Equilibria Diagrams, NIST Ceramics Webbook, military handbooks, the International Centre for Diffraction Data, AMPTIAC reports, professional society handbooks and many assorted databases, about which little is known beyond their user bases.

Lew Sloter's talk reviewed DoD's interest in engineered materials to support the agency's mission. Credit: ACerS.

The workshop was underwritten by the DOD, through the program office managed by Lew Sloter, associate director, materials and structures, DOD. In his keynote presentation, “Materials as a Key Defense Strategy,” Sloter said the current workshop grew out of an NNI-related workshop held at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2007 on nano-informatics, where several participants (including Sloter, Freiman and Rumble) realized that, in order to gain traction, the topic of data needed to be addressed in a specific context. “We were looking for a materials type that had the necessary complexity to make a good case study,” Sloter said.

About thirty workshop participants heard presentations by representatives from the service labs—Army Research Laboratory, Air Force Research Laboratory and the Office of Naval Research—on their how they access, generate and use data. The perspectives of industry (Boeing, United Technologies Research Center, Kyocera and Du-Co Ceramics), national labs (Sandia, NIST) and academia also were presented.

A few themes emerged, and the issues that attend ceramic property data are indeed complex.

• There are few standard specifications or designations for ceramic materials. Investigators are not necessarily talking about the same material, even when it seems like they are. The oft-cited example is “96 percent” alumina, the properties of which are determined in large part by the unspecified 4 percent.

• Much data is not accessible. It is cloistered into proprietary databases or in protected databases, such as ITAR/EAR databases. And, manufacturers often generate and store their own data on an as-needed basis.

• Lack of standard reference materials and standard testing methods. Also, advances in testing methods themselves can raise questions about the validity of data generated using older methods.

• Support for data generation is declining. Freiman says materials R&D labs are closing, industrial R&D is fragmenting, government support is declining and the overall economic downturn is having an effect. However, new technologies and new materials, such as nanostructured materials, are increasing demands for data.

• Quality: How good is the data and how does the user know? How was it generated; how far back does the data trail go? Matthew Batcher from ARL works on SiC armor tiles and asked in his presentation, “What information is lost or not translated to users as it moves forward?”

• Inconsistent demand. How does fluctuation in demand affect the economics of data acquisition, storage and retrieval? Representatives from large companies said they cannot get enough quality data to run good design FEA models. A researcher from the Air Force Research Laboratory described his lab’s data needs as “sporadic but intense.”

The issues of quality and provenance came up frequently. Without knowing the uncertainty in the data, any use of the data will also have unknown uncertainties. The solution is to attach metadata to the data so that users can evaluate for themselves whether the data is usable.

Kevin Ewsuk of Sandia National Laboratory pointed out that there are tiers of data quality, depending on what the engineering activity is. For example, lower quality data can be used in the development phase when the researcher is looking for trends, however, more exact data is needed for when it comes to applications. Ewsuk also noted that not all applications demand the same quality level of design data. “Think of your cell phone,” he said. “If it quits working, you throw it away and get a new one. That doesn’t work if the same component goes bad on a satellite.”

Freiman challenged the group, “Imagine a world with unlimited access to ceramics data. Now, how can we get there?”

The clear consensus was that one giant, monolithic database would not meet the specific needs of enough users and would not be sustainable. However, with internet tools like Google-type search capability and robust metadata, an organic approach to building and accessing databases is possible and may offer a pathway to assembling a collection of databases. Several ideas were suggested for ways to adapt other internet practices, such as Amazon’s review function, to engage data contributors and users in a dynamic and productive way.

The most challenging questions Freiman posed were “Where do we go from here? Who should lead?”

Several participants suggested The American Ceramic Society is well-positioned to take a leadership, or at least a facilitator, role. Certainly, since its founding, the Society has viewed technical content as core to its mission. Others suggested that the government should provide support, at least in terms of funding.

What do you think? What are your data needs and wants? What role would you expect a society like ACerS to assume?

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