Richard M. Fulrath Award 2018 Session abstracts

Atomic-scale understanding of ceramic interfaces by advanced electron microscopy

Naoya Shibata, University of Tokyo, Japan

Understanding the atomic-scale structures of surfaces and interfaces is essential to understand and control the mechanical and functional properties of ceramic materials. Recent advances in aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) have made possible the direct characterization of localized atomic structure and chemistry of ceramic interfaces with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. Moreover, using segmented/pixelated type detector, direct atomic-scale imaging of electromagnetic field structures inside materials and devices is also becoming possible. In this talk, the current status of aberration-corrected STEM along with some applications in ceramic interface studies will be reported. I would like to discuss how these atomic-resolution STEM techniques can help us to fundamentally understand the atomic-scale structures and related properties of ceramic interfaces.

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Development of Ceramics and Glass Materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and Oxygen Permeable Membrane

Yosuke Takahashi, Noritaki Co., Ltd., Japan

Mixed-ion conducting ceramics of perovskite oxides and glass sealing materials have been developed and studied. The purposes of these studies were to use the materials as cathode and sealing materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and as oxygen-permeable membranes. Some of these materials for SOFCs are mass-produced and industrialized. SOFCs have been actively developed as a next-generation power source because of their high power generation efficiency.

In Japan, “Energy carriers” has been launched as a theme of “Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP)” since 2014. “Energy carriers” are materials for storing or transporting energy. In SIP, ammonia has been studied as a carbon-free energy carrier. In this work, ammonia was experimented to use as a fuel for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). As a result, with the SOFC which can directly use ammonia, the world’s largest experiment of power generation has successfully demonstrated.

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Blending Cultures to Achieve Innovation

Mark D. Waugh, Murata Electronics North America, Inc., USA

For decades, Murata has been well-known in the ceramics world as a leader in the design and production of passive electronic components and solutions, communication modules, and power supply modules. So how does such an established global company leverage its core foundation and commitment to innovation to capture market opportunities? The answer–collaboration.

Consider the healthcare market. In the U.S. alone, costs have risen at a staggering rate and are unsustainable. However, new technological innovations can decrease these costs and positively change the health care model to a value-driven system.

Healthcare innovation thrives when different knowledge domains and areas of expertise come together. Many discoveries have been born following exposure to indirectly related ideas. However, these innovations can’t happen without high quality and continuous communication, both virtual and physical, and recognizing and dealing with the demands of all stakeholders. Thus, the ability of a company to blend cultures is key to taking a great healthcare technology idea from inception to realization.

Only by blending cultures can companies accelerate progress and leverage each other’s core competencies and technologies. Applying this approach, Mark and his colleagues have worked on a multitude of projects using a wide range of Murata innovations that resulted in a significant broadening of the company’s healthcare portfolio. This presentation will not only capture this theme, but outline the specific vision, strategy, and tactics that Murata took to achieve real-world, impactful results that are changing society for the better.

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Potassium sodium niobate-based multilayer piezoelectric ceramics co-fired with nickel inner electrodes

Shinichiro Kawanda, Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd, Japan

Potassium sodium niobate-based piezoelectric ceramics have been extensively studied as a candidate of lead-free piezoelectric ceramics. However there are many problems that must still be overcome before they are suitable for practical use.

One of the main problems is fabricating a multilayer structure. Therefore lead-free potassium sodium niobate-based multilayer piezoelectric ceramics co-fired with nickel inner electrodes are studied. Nickel inner electrodes have many advantages, such as high electromigration resistance, high interfacial strength with ceramics, and greater cost effectiveness than silver palladium inner electrodes.

However, widely used lead zirconate titanate-based ceramics cannot be co-fired with nickel inner electrodes, and silver palladium inner electrodes are usually used for lead zirconate titanate-based piezoelectric ceramics. A possible alternative is lead-free ceramics co-fired with nickel inner electrodes. We have thus been developing lead-free potassium sodium niobate-based multilayer ceramics co-fired with nickel inner electrodes. The normalized electric-field-induced thickness strain (Smax/Emax) of a representative potassium sodium niobate-based multilayer ceramic structure with nickel inner electrodes was 360 pm/V, where Smax denotes the maximum strain and Emax denotes the maximum electric field. This value is about half that for the lead zirconate titanate-based ceramics that are widely used. However, a comparable value can be obtained by stacking more ceramic layers with smaller thicknesses. Thus the developed potassium sodium niobate-based multilayer ceramic co-fired with nickel inner electrodes is a high potential candidate for use in lead-free piezoelectric devices.