Methods that conserve or semi-conserve a dental restoration during removal often risk harming the underlying tooth. Researchers in the U.S. and Poland reviewed the current literature on erbium laser-assisted ceramic debonding to identify the parameters needed for safe application of this method.
Read More
The use of transparent ceramics as a gain medium in lasers is an evolving field, and there is still much to learn about how processing parameters affect the ceramics’ performance. Researchers in Singapore and China published two papers investigating the possible effects of a standard sintering aid and dispersant on lasing performance.
Read More
Transparent ceramics serve as the gain medium in many commercial lasers, yet the push to develop new and improved ceramics for this application continues. In two papers published this year, an international team of researchers investigates the influence of different processing parameters on the properties of nanocomposite yttrium magnesium oxide ceramics.
Read More
For more than 50 years, the Apollo-era Laser Ranging Retroreflector experiment helped scientists track the moon’s orbit and distance from Earth. The efficiency of the moon-based reflectors decreased over time, though, so NASA scientists looked to reflect light from a spacecraft-based reflector instead—a feat they recently achieved for the first time.
Read More
Researchers at Imperial College London have discovered that hafnium carbide and tantalum carbide have some of the highest melting points of any measured materials—making these ultra-high temperature ceramics potentially perfect for use in extreme environments, such as on hypersonic vehicles that soar through space.
Read More
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other affiliated institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. say they’ve “made significant inroads toward understanding a process for improving perovskites’ performance, by modifying the material using intense light,” according to an MIT news article.
Read More
Flexible solar cells could happen, industrial nanoparticles pose no threat, and other materials stories that may be of interest for March 2, 2015.
Read More
Laser refrigerates liquids, ORNL watches fuel cell catalysts evolve, and other materials stories that may be of interest for November 24, 2015.
Read More
Natural 2-D superconductors, NIST relieves the stress, and other materials stories that may be of interest for November 18, 2015.
Read More
Tungsten disulfide assists 2-D lasers, gallium nitride for energy-saving devices, and other materials stories that may be of interest for October 28, 2015.
Read More