On Friday 25 October 2024, the Netherlands Ceramic Society (NKV) and the Belgian sister organization Belgian Ceramic Society (BCers) assisted by the Young Ceramists Network (YCN) organize a one-day symposium on ‘Advanced ceramic manufacturing in the Benelux‘ at Eindhoven University of Technology. The aim is to bring together people from universities, research institutes and industry … Continue reading Symposium Advanced Ceramic Manufacturing in the Benelux – 25 October 2024 – Eindhoven →
A salt is a crystalline material consisting of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, and is electrically neutral as a whole. Table salt or sodium chloride (NaCl) is the best-known example. Salts often have metals such as sodium, potassium and magnesium as cations, and non-metals such as chlorine, acetate (CH3COO–) or sulphate (SO42-) as … Continue reading Salt as a special type of ceramics? →
In December 2013, European Space Agency ESA launched the Gaia satellite, that had to map the location and speed of about one billion stars over five years. Gaia is so accurate that it can detect a human hair – with a thickness of a few dozen microns – at a distance of about 1000 kilometers. … Continue reading Silicon carbide: stability for nanometers and lightyears →
From a chemical point of view, advanced ceramics – like traditional ceramics – consist of compounds between metallic and non-metallic elements: oxides such as aluminium oxide and zirconium oxide, nitrides such as silicon nitride and titanium nitride, and carbides such as silicon carbide. The advanced ceramics family can be described as stable and functional materials. … Continue reading Advanced ceramics: stable and functional materials →
The ceramic material aluminium oxide, also known as alumina, is completely opaque, translucent or transparent – depending on the structure, and therefore on the manufacturing process. Light scattering is the keyword here. Most alumina products are made out of pure aluminium oxide powder with a well defined grain size. These powder particles are getting close(r) … Continue reading Light transmission of aluminium oxide →
Clay is the most important raw material for traditional ceramics such as bricks, tiles, sanitary ceramics and tableware. The word ‘earthenware’ for ceramic pots and jugs is an indication that their raw materials are literally obtained from the ground. Clay is a natural product whose composition varies. Clay particles are flat hexagonal plates with a … Continue reading Traditional and advanced ceramics →
Computer simulations on an atomic or molecular scale give a direct link between the microscopic details of a system (atomic masses, molecular geometry, etc.) on the one hand, and macroscopic properties that are of experimental interest (energies, transport coefficients etc.) on the other. By comparing the outcome of the simulation with experimental results, understanding can … Continue reading Molecular dynamics computer simulations of yttria-stabilized zirconia →
On April 30, 2015 – formerly known as the Queen’s Birthday in the Netherlands – the Netherlands Ceramic Society NKV organised a meeting in the city of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Part of this meeting was ‘Research in advanced ceramics’, where a total of six PhD and MSc students of Dutch universities took the opportunity … Continue reading Research in advanced ceramics – 2015 →
Piezoelectric materials have the capability to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy, and vice versa. Piezo stems from the ancient Greek πιέζειν (piezein), which means ‘to press’ or ‘to squeeze’. Piezoelectric materials are among these ‘invisible’ materials that are widespread around us, although they are unknown to the public at large. Mobile phones, automotive electronics, … Continue reading PZT – the most commonly used piezoelectric material →
Achtergrondverhalen over technische keramiek