Polymer-derived ceramic structures are difficult to manufacture using additive manufacturing processes because of low viscosity of the polymer state. Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas successfully demonstrated the use of gel-like viscoplastic fluid to support preceramic polymers during the printing process.
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Metalenses are an emerging technology for controlling light that could someday replace traditional lenses. However, they generally lack dynamic control over their optical properties and are limited to passive optical applications. Researchers from the United States and Italy investigated infiltrating metalenses with liquid crystals to allow for dynamic control.
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Farmers are in the midst of an economic crisis. Production of methane fuel from biogas, a natural byproduct of organic wastes, may be a way to turn a profit, but the current processing methods are too expensive for small farmers. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory developed a composite sorbent that may make the production process economically feasible.
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Determining viscosity of a glass through experiment is a slow and expensive process. In two recent papers published in JACerS, Penn State professor John Mauro and his colleagues show how it can be predicted much easier by using dilatometry and DSC to calculate parameters for a glass viscosity model that was proposed in 2009.
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One challenge in additive manufacturing is the design of complex shapes with large-sized unsupported regions. A recent ACerS journal article explores the use of organic sacrificial supports to achieve such designs.
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Artificial intelligence techniques hasten the process of identifying new ceramic and glass compositions, but current synthesis methods limit how quickly new compositions can be experimentally tested. University of Maryland researchers and colleagues developed a new ultrafast high-temperature sintering method that could greatly speed up ceramic synthesis.
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For self-driving vehicles to become a common reality, the laser surveying system LiDAR must be improved. Researchers from Alfred University developed a transparent ceramic that could prove to be an ideal lasing material for LiDAR.
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It is one thing to develop a new material or process—but improving existing materials and processes is also important in making better products. Two papers in the May-June issue of International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology focus on improving effectivity of existing processes.
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Industry must be able to mass produce high-quality MXenes if MXene-based devices are to take off. Two Drexel groups published papers describing new ways to improve processing, by scaling up production and removing water from chemical synthesis.
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Fabricating dense, complex-shaped items from silicon carbide can be challenging due to the material’s properties. Manufacturers benefit from studies on reducing viscosity of SiC slurries, such as two recent ones published in an ACerS journal, but open access to the data behind such studies may benefit them even more.
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