To celebrate the milestone of the 20th volume of the International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology, the editorial team assembled a selection of journal papers representing the excellent work from the advanced ceramics community. The focus this month is thermal and environmental barrier coatings.
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The idea of harvesting solar energy in outer space and beaming it back to Earth is a science-fiction concept that in recent decades gained real-world legs. Now, the California Institute of Technology announced that an experiment through its ongoing Space Solar Power Project beamed solar energy collected in space back to Earth for the first time.
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Though the presence of water on the moon is a well-confirmed fact, the origins of this water and its distribution on the lunar surface remain largely unknown. Thanks to new lunar samples brought back by the Chinese Chang’e 5 lunar exploration mission, researchers now know that impact glass beads appear to play a significant role in the lunar surface water cycle.
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Though ceramic matrix composites for aircraft have entered commercial operation, there still are some knowledge gaps regarding the oxidation of these materials. Two researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, conducted an experiment on internal CMC oxidation that provided new insights into the oxidation processes and highlighted deficiencies in the current standard oxidation model.
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To achieve manned missions to Mars, spacecraft will need to maximize fuel usage. Nuclear thermal propulsion is one technology actively on NASA’s radar. In a recent study, researchers from Missouri S&T and NASA Marshall used a surrogate material to explore the thermal properties of a cermet fuel that may be used in future nuclear propulsion systems.
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The December 2022 issue of the ACerS Bulletin—featuring an overview of ceramics and glass used in space travel and exploration—is now available online. Plus—new C&GM and ceramicSOURCE 2023.
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While missions that take place in space often capture media headlines, ground-based operations are equally important in our search to understand the cosmos. Today’s CTT covers two recent announcements concerning observatories in Puerto Rico and Iran.
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Mass and volume limitations make it challenging to load a spacecraft with all the equipment needed for a mission. An effort led by the Air Force Research Laboratory is developing a solid oxide fuel cell that converts chemical energy in a spacecraft’s bipropellant into electricity, thereby allowing an existing spacecraft component to be used as an auxiliary power supply.
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The universe contains many complex chemistries and phenomena yet to be discovered or explained. Two recent studies offer a glimpse into how some ceramic materials may form in space.
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Repairing localized damage in thermal barrier coatings on aircraft turbine blades can require full coat removal and reapplication to avoid blocking cooling holes in the blade. Forschungszentrum Jülich researchers proposed a new laser-cladding-based additive manufacturing technique that shows promise repairing localized damage without the need for full coat removal.
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