Ceramic Tech Today

Removing distortion from thin ceramics with shot peening

By Eileen De Guire / April 2, 2012

Shot is fired from a blasting gun at a ceramic leaf spring to correct its shape or cause specific warping as desired. Credit: Felicitas Gemetz; Fraunhofer IWM. Ceramic materials are…

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Alfred U. researchers participating in solid oxide fuel cell interconnects, GaN-on-diamond substrate projects

By / April 2, 2012

Left, prototype of SOFC stack. Right, samples of interconnects being developed in a public–private partnership with Alfred University, Solid Cell, RocCera and the the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.…

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DARPA looking for integration of diverse microsystems components, $80M for launching ‘heterogeneous integration foundry’

By / April 2, 2012

Raytheon differential amplifier. Credit: DARPA. Nothing “newsy” here, except for the implied conceptual leap and an aggressive attitude. DARPA just announced a big, new effort “to bridge compound semiconductor and…

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News from the glass and refractory worlds

By P. Carlo Ratto / April 2, 2012

• Allied Glass Containers has announced that it is about to receive a significant boost due to a planned investment project, which will see over £3 million invested in the company’s…

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Photoblogging from 48th Symposium on Refractories in St. Louis

By Eileen De Guire / March 30, 2012

Rick Volk from Uni-Ref, Inc. was RCD’s 2012 T.J. Planje Award winner. On Wednesday and Thursday I attended the 48th Symposium on Refractories sponsored by the St. Louis Section and…

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Flood of ‘big data’ announcements, awards coincide with unique federal webcast

By / March 30, 2012

Example of data visualization efforts. This shows concurrent visualization of 20 simulation runs performed by the International Panel on Climate Change using the HIPerWall (Highly Interactive Parallelized Display Wall) system.…

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Useful metrics for comparing new energy storage technologies

By Eileen De Guire / March 29, 2012

A typical mid-size family sedan carries a 200 hp engine. How meaningful is that metric for modern, non-agrarian drivers? Similarly, old ways of measuring battery utility might not be all…

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Ceramics and glass business news of the week

By / March 29, 2012

Structure of “ENE-FARM home energy SOFC cogeneration unit jointly developed by Kyocera and consortium of other Japanese companies. Credit: Kyocera. Here’s what we are hearing: Kyocera presents comprehensive home energy…

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Materials Genome Initiative, other federal ‘big data’ projects to be covered in Thursday live webcast

By / March 28, 2012

Time using Oak Ridge National Lab’s Jaguar computer — recently upgraded to the “Titan” level (soon to be capable of 20 petaflops speed) — is being offered as a tool…

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‘Transformation thermodynamics’ shows potential of thermal invisibility cloaking

By Eileen De Guire / March 28, 2012

The object in the center of the thermal cloak (letters OSA) stays cold, while the heat diffuses elsewhere. The source of the heat is on the left-hand side and held…

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