Thermal management

Video: Bake a pizza in record time

By Lisa McDonald / June 10, 2020

What happens when a company specializing in industrial heating technologies teams up with a seasoned pizzaiolo? You get a Neapolitan pizza cooked in record time! Find out how Kanthal engineers created the fast-baking electric oven.

Read More

An ultimate goal of research: Making better products by improving what you have

By Jonathon Foreman / April 17, 2020

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.

Read More

Preparing for hypersonic flight—wing shape affects thermal shock behavior of UHTCs

By Jonathon Foreman / March 27, 2020

Ultrahigh-temperature ceramics are promising materials for protecting aircraft wings from friction during hypersonic flight—but thermal shock can cause these ceramics to crack. In the cover article for the March 2020 International Journal of Ceramic Engineering & Science, researchers in China report how wing shape affects thermal shock behavior of UHTCs.

Read More

Observing at the extremes— nanomechanical materials testing at over 2,000°C

By Lisa McDonald / March 3, 2020

Performing microscale experiments at ultrahigh temperatures is difficult because the high heat can destroy the testing mechanisms. Researchers demonstrated a new method, which combines targeted laser heating and transmission electron microscopy, that may overcome this problem.

Read More

Nanospinning performance fabrics—the next generation of gear is weaving materials science into outerwear

By April Gocha / December 31, 2019

By incorporating electrospun nanofibers, The North Face’s new Futurelight gear is designed to be more breathable and lightweight than any other performance material currently on the market.

Read More

Video: Blue is cool—pigment containing ceramic microspheres cools Qatar roads

By Lisa McDonald / November 20, 2019

In anticipation of hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022, Qatar is actively implementing cooling technologies to combat the intense heat. One technology being tested to cool roads is a blue heat-reflective pigment containing hollow ceramic microspheres.

Read More

Two theories, one goal—new formula also describes heat flow in both crystals and glass

By Lisa McDonald / August 30, 2019

In May, a formula was published that could describe thermal transport in both crystals and glass. Now, a new formula by researchers in Italy and the United States based on a different mathematical framework can also model such thermal transport.

Read More

Two materials, one theory—unified thermal transport formula describes heat flow in both crystals and glass

By Lisa McDonald / June 14, 2019

Previously, two separate theories described heat transport in ordered and disordered materials. A new general theory by Swiss and Italian researchers describes thermal transport in both, as well as everything in between.

Read More

Breakthroughs with boron nitride could enable more efficient electronics

By April Gocha / June 4, 2019

Recent research may enable integration of boron nitride into next-gen electronics. Researchers have proven boron nitride’s high thermal conductivity and integrated the material into a flexible yet efficient nanocomposite.

Read More

Caffeine provides energy boost to humans and solar cells alike

By Lisa McDonald / May 7, 2019

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that adding caffeine to perovskite solar cells stabilizes their power conversion efficiency, due to caffeine forming a “molecular lock” with lead ions in the solar cells.

Read More