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Ceramics
Blast glass
Issue Date: Oct 31, 2005
a group of researchers from the Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, Kolkata, has developed a process to obtain glass ceramic material from the blast furnace slag generated in iron and steel plants.
The innovation holds good potential for the cookware industry as the new class of materials has an ultra-low thermal expansion coefficient and uses low cost raw materials.
Safe fibres
Issue Date: Dec 31, 1999
fine ceramic fibres have been in use in a variety of forms since a long time. Finer fabrics are strong, flexible and, unlike coarser fibres, they do not irritate the skin. But in recent times, the question of ceramic fibre use has returned to haunt us as a major health issue. Ceramic fibres finer than 1 micron in diameter are known to be carcinogenic and fibres finer than 3 microns can be inhaled.
Ceramic wonder
Issue Date: Nov 15, 1996
Japanese workers have developed the first neodymium-doped yttrium-aluminium-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser, based on ceramics. Nd:YAG lasers are used for micro fabrication and in medical work. Normally, lasers are made from monocrystalline material. The size and power of these is limited by the size of single crystals that can be grown. However, growing large crystals can take over a month and defects often crop in during growth.
Clean ceramics
Issue Date: Jul 31, 1996
the smooth, white surface of your bathroom sink hides the fact that the process of making it is a notoriously dirty and polluting one. Aluminium oxide ceramics which find applications in a range of products (from sinks to lasers) are made by dissolving aluminium oxide powder in organic solvents and using many other chemicals in the process.
Shrinking ceramic
Issue Date: Jun 30, 1996
GENERALLY, the laws of physics are very rigid, but this one is found to be rather flexible. It is a well established theory that a material expands on heating. The reason for this thermal expansion is the violent increase registered in the vibrations of atoms or molecules of the material due to extra energy. The more the heat supplied, the more the atoms vibrate and take up more space. Or so it is with most materials.
Bending ceramic
Issue Date: Apr 15, 1996
Malleable and bendable ceramic
materials have been developed in
Saarbrucken, Germany. Deutchland
(No I 9/10). Scientists at the
Saarbrucken's Institute for New
Industrial Material have recently
developed what they refer to as
'nano powder'. It consists of almost
unimaginably small ceramic particles, billions of which would fit on
the head of a pin. The ceramic particles are surrounded by an extremely
thin lubricating fIlm which ensures
that the individual particles do not
stick to one another and are able to
move freely. This produces rather
Shaping better
Issue Date: Mar 31, 1996
German researchers from the
Fraunhofer Institute For Ceramic
Technologies, have developed a 'hot
moulding' technique for moulding
thermoplastics. According to the
scientists, this technology is simpler
and cheaper than injection mould-
ing. The technique involves mixing
ceramic powder with waxes and
paraffins that melt at low temperatures. The concoction is then
warmed slightly and pressed into
the mould at low pressure. After the
mixture hardens, the binding agent
is removed by evaporation and later
fired at high temperatures.
Material in, metal out
Issue Date: Jan 15, 1996
Researchers from
Calcutta have
managed to develop a
new
ceramic that boasts
of properties which could
ultimately
mean the replacement
of conventional metallic parts
used in
refractories and
engines.
The material which is
called
'sialon' ceramic', has
been developed by a team of
scientists led by
Siddartha
Bandopadhyay from the
Calcutta-based
Central Glass and
Ceramics Research
Institute using
- such as clay - as
the starting
material and a novel
sintering
technique.
The researchers claim
that the
sialon ceramic has
superior
mechanical, chemical
Return to glaze
Issue Date: Oct 31, 1995
Traditional Indian
potters fig" 14
extinction today
due to their ig
rance of improved
technology
ceramics and poor
financial cod
tion. However, now
any good op,
lity clay available
to potters all co
the country at
throw-away o
could be used to
produce glazed 0
tery that bears a
huge market val
Changing Villages
(Vol 14, lamnO
March, 1995)
reports that in L
with this
objective, at the
insistel
of Rural Technology
Instin
Gandhinagar,
Gujarat, a sponW
project was taken
up to develop
appropriate
technology for the
duction of glazed
pottery fn
Balasinor common
