Substituting ceramics for single crystals

How do you sinter material to perfection to make it as transparent as window glass . . . or a single crystal? Gary Messing has been looking into this question at Penn State University and is particularly focused on the microstructure-property relations of these materials. He explains, for example, that single-crystal Nd:YAG lasers face power limitations because of imperfections in the single crystal. However, his work shows that significantly more powerful lasers can be attained if ceramic can be substituting for the single crystal. Messing also discusses his work in templated grain growth to control crystal orientation in ceramic materials. This template-driven, seed-crystal approach offers a cost-effective way to develop materials with, for example, a greater piezoelectric response or one that can be created with larger dimensions than single-crystal approaches. 8 minutes.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Gary
• Messing
• Penn
• State
• laser
• ceramic
• piezo
• crystal
• templated
• grain
• growth
• Nd:YAG
• sinter

[fuelban]

Very interesting video, A brave new world indeed.... can you now produce these crystals within a Vacume, some what complex, but would perhaps eliminate any inclusions !.

Thom in Scotland.