Ceramics and Composite Materials

Ceramic-like inorganic polymers can be made under low energy conditions such as ambient temperatures and pressures. These materials include aluminosilicates or Geopolymers, phosphates and other chemically bonded inorganic compounds. Advanced ceramics such as alumina, aluminum nitride, zirconia, silicon carbide, silicon nitride and titania-based materials, each with their own specific characteristics, offer a high-performance, economic alternative to conventional materials such as glass, metals and plastics. This track covers Synthesis, Processing and Microstructure, Porosity, Novel Applications and Construction Materials, Chemically Bonded Ceramics.

Long-term mechanical reliability is a key issue in their ultimate use for a specific application. Correlations between processing and service conditions/environment to failure of ceramics by fracture, fatigue or deformation are key aspects of materials applications. Ceramics cover a very wide range of materials from structural materials like concrete to technical ceramics like PZT – a piezoelectric.  Usually they are defined as solids with a mixture of metallic or semi-metallic and non-metallic elements (often, although not always, oxygen), that are quite hard, non-conducting and corrosion-resistant. Composites are often used in applications that require specific ‘conflicting’ properties such as a high strength and high toughness. The properties may be conflicting because having a high yield stress sometimes relies on trapping and tangling dislocations, but these reduce the ductility and toughness of the material. This track covers Mechanics, Characterization Techniques, and Equipment, Tribology and Wear, Environmental Effects, Reliability and Small Scale Testing, Mechanical Behavior of CMCs, Processing - Microstructure - Mechanical Properties Correlation.

Coatings are usually applied to the surface of an object, usually referred to as the substrate. Purpose of applying coating may be decorative. This track covers recent advances in coating sciences and technologies, processing, microstructure and property characterization, and life prediction. Chromium oxide ceramic material thermo chemically bonded to customer specified areas on a part, including external diameters, internal diameters and some out-of-sight holes and ports. Individual ceramic particles are sub-micron in size and consist of mixtures of selected ceramic materials bonded together and to the substrate. This track covers Advanced Thermal Barrier Coatings: Processing and Development, Multifunctional, Corrosion and Wear, Environmental Barrier Coatings, Thermal Barrier Coatings: Characterization and NDE Methods, Advanced Multifunctional Coatings.

Glass-ceramics are fine-grained polycrystalline materials formed when glasses of suitable compositions are heat treated and thus undergo controlled crystallization to the lower energy, crystalline state. It must be emphasized here that only specific glass compositions are suitable precursors for glass-ceramics due to the fact that some glasses are too stable and difficult to crystallize whereas others result in undesirable microstructures by crystallizing too readily in an uncontrollable manner. In addition, it must also be accentuated that in order for a suitable product to be attained, the heat-treatment is critical for the process and a range of generic heat treatment procedures are used which are meticulously developed and modified for a specific glass composition.

Ceramics with engineered porosity are promising materials for a number of functional and structural applications. Porous Ceramics have a wide range of uses in manufacturing across industries such as medical, mining, oil & gas exploration, alternative energy, emissions control, metal refinement, chemical processing, pharmaceutical, printing, wine making and other industries. Specific applications include instrumentation, analytical sensors, semiconductor components, alternative energy assemblies, battery separators, emissions monitoring sensors among many others. This track aims at bringing together engineers, technologists and scientists in the area of ceramic, carbon, glass and glass-ceramic materials containing high volume fractions of porosity, with porosity ranging from nano- to milli-meters. This track covers Innovations in Processing Methods and Synthesis of Porous Ceramics, Modeling and Properties of Porous Ceramics, Applications of Porous Ceramics, Mechanical Properties of Porous Ceramics.

When properly combined with other materials, ceramic and glass materials can exhibit ballistic penetration resistances significantly higher than conventional monolithic armor materials. Traditionally, ceramics have rarely been used in large armor panels for vehicle armor because of concerns with multi-hit performance. The commercially manufactured ceramics for armor include materials such as boron carbide, aluminium oxide, silicon carbide, titanium boride aluminiumnitride, and Syndite(synthetic diamond composite). Boron carbide composites are primarily used for ceramic plates to protect against smaller projectiles, and are used in body and helicopters. Silicon carbide is primarily used to protect against larger projectiles.

The thermal stability, wear-resistance and resistance to corrosion of ceramic components make the application of ceramic the ideal choice for many industrial uses. Ceramic Applications is the new platform for advances in the development of ceramic components and their integrative design in complex industrial solutions to realize sustainable, economic applications in the wide range of user segments This track covers Medical Technology, Automotive Industry, Environment Technology, Mechanical and Metal Industry, Chemical Process Engineering, Engineering Service Providers, Electronics, Sensors and Semi-Conductor Industry, Others (armour, optics, wear, protection and corrosion).

Synthesis, characterization and theoretical understanding of functional ceramic and inorganic materials. This research area includes electro ceramics (including ferroelectric, multiferroic and piezoelectric materials), complex oxides, solid state materials chemistry, inorganic 2D materials, inorganic framework materials and porous materials.

Ultra-high-temperature ceramics (UHTCs) are a class of refractory ceramics that offer excellent stability at temperatures exceeding 2000 °C being investigated as possible thermal protection system (TPS) materials, coatings for materials subjected to high temperatures, and bulk materials for heating elements. Broadly speaking, UHTCs are borides, carbides, nitrides, and oxides of early transition metals. Current efforts have focused on heavy, early transition metal borides such as hafnium diboride (HfB2) and zirconium diboride(ZrB2); additional UHTCs under investigation for TPS applications include hafnium nitride (HfN), zirconium nitride (ZrN), titanium carbide (TiC), titanium nitride (TiN), thorium dioxide (ThO2), tantalum carbide (TaC) and their associated composites.

Oxide ceramics are inorganic compounds of metallic (e.g., Al, Zr, Ti, Mg) or metalloid (Si) elements with oxygen. Oxides can be combined with nitrogen or carbon to form more complex oxynitride or oxycarbide ceramics. Oxide ceramics have high melting points, low wear resistance, and a wide range of electrical properties. Non-oxide ceramics are technical Ceramics that are classed as inorganic, non-metallic materials. They exhibit covalent bonds, can be conductive (carbides) and non-conductive (nitrides)

Bioceramics range in biocompatibility from the ceramic oxides, which are inert in the body, to the other extreme of resorbable materials, which are eventually replaced by the materials which they were used to repairing, used in many types of medical procedures. Bioceramics are typically used as rigid materials in surgical implants, though some bioceramics are flexible. The ceramic materials used are not the same as porcelain type ceramic materials. Rather, bioceramics are closely related to either the body's own materials or are extremely durable metal oxides.This track covers Biological Evaluation of Bioceramic materials, Applications, Case Studies, and Bioceramics for Cancer Therapy, Bioceramics for Dental Application, and Bioceramics in Tissue Engineering.

Nuclear ceramics, ceramic materials employed in the generation of nuclear power and in the disposal of radioactive nuclear wastes. In their nuclear-related functions, ceramics are of major importance. Since the beginning of nuclear power generation, oxide ceramics, based on the fissionable metals uranium and plutonium, have been made into highly reliable fuel pellets for both water-cooled and liquid-metal-cooled reactors. Ceramics also can be employed to immobilize and store nuclear wastes.

Metal oxides represent an assorted and appealing class of materials whereby the field of metal oxide nanostructured morphologies has become one of the most active research areas within the nano-science community. The ability to manufacture ceramics with an intrinsic nanostructure enables the resulting ceramic materials to be optimized for a specific purpose. This track covers Highly porous ceramic and metal materials, Composites based on shape-memory alloys, Design and manufacturing technology for ceramic and cermet composites with structural and phase transformations, Transformation-hardening ceramic and metal composite materials, Wear resistance of transformation-hardening ceramic and metal composite materials, Bioceramic Materials, Porcelain, Ceramics Manufacturers and Market Analysis.

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents, such as atoms, molecules or ions, are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. The session will cover all aspects, from basic research and material characterization, through physicochemical aspects of growth and deposition techniques, to the technological development of industrialized materials.

Traditional ceramics are comprised of three basic components - clay, silica (quartz), and feldspar.Clay is one of the most common ceramic raw materials. It is used widely because it is found in great quantities naturally and it is easily formed. Clay is used in structural clay products (bricks, pipes, tiles) and whitewares (pottery, tableware, china, sanitaryware). Clay makes up the majority of the ceramic body and is primarily composed of hydrated aluminium silicates, Al2O₃.SiO₂.H₂O. Most clay products also contain an inexpensive filler, often quartz, and a feldspar, or flux, that forms a glass to bind ceramic particles during heat treatment.

The influence of electrical fields on various phenomena in ceramic science is an emerging area which deals with the ceramic materials at higher temperatures and also the sintering characteristics shown by materials. Sintering is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by heat and/or pressure without melting it to the point of liquefaction. Sintering happens naturally in mineral deposits or as a manufacturing process used with metals, ceramics, plastics, and other materials. This track covers Flash Sintering Phenomena and Mechanisms, Field Assisted Sintering Phenomena.

Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) combines engineering, physics and chemistry principles to solve real-world problems associated with nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, energy, manufacturing and other major engineering disciplines. Materials scientists work with diverse types of materials (e.g., metals, polymers, ceramics, liquid crystals, composites) for a broad range of applications (e.g., energy, construction, electronics, biotechnology, nanotechnology) employing modern processing and discovery principles (e.g., casting, additive manufacturing, coating, evaporation, plasma and radiation processing, artificial intelligence, and computer simulations).