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Some of the German delegation of participants in the first Global Young Investigators Forum at ICACC. Thomas Fisher (third from left) was the principle organizer of the forum.

The 36th convening of the International Conference and Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites is in its second day in Daytona Beach, Fla. This year’s meeting attracted over 1,000 engineers and scientists from 41 countries, who will be presenting about 850 papers. According to the organizers, this year, for the first time, the number of foreign attendees has surpassed the number of US attendees.

Two factors are contributing to the strong international participation: the first European Union–USA Ceramics Summit and the first Global Young Investigators Forum. The EU-USA summit is taking place on Monday and Tuesday and attracted about 25 talks with participants from Germany, Italy, Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland, Belgium, Poland and Spain.

The Global Young Investigators Forum starts tomorrow and runs through the end of the week. The GYIF is a new innovation this year, and all indications are that it’s an idea that is long overdue. Thomas Fisher, PhD candidate at the University of Cologne, Germany, organized the Forum, which will have 45 presentations from PhD candidates and post-docs from more than 14 countries. I’ll have more to tell about the Forum later.

I’m told the weather in Daytona Beach in January can be hit or miss, and since Sunday, it’s been all “hit,” with temperatures in the upper 70s and sunshine.

Here is a catalog of some of the things I’ve been seeing.

George Wicks, ACerS president, and Sanjay Mathur, program chair.

ICACC'12 kicked off with a lively reception on Sunday.

Colleagues and friends met at the reception. Pictured from the left, Lise Schioler, George Quinn and Eileen De Guire.

Jay Singh presented the Society with a gift on behalf of the Indian Ceramic Society. Pictured with Jay are Charlie Spahr (ACerS executive director), George Wicks and Megan Bricker (ACerS director of membership).

Monday's plenary session drew a rapt audience.

David Marshall delivered the first plenary talk and was awarded the James I. Mueller Award.

The beach was no distraction for these attendees.

Andrew Portune of Nottingham, Md., is enjoying the meeting.

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Credit: P. Wray; ACerS.

Two weeks ago, researchandmarkets.com offered a study on the US’s advanced ceramics markets. Now, the research firm is offering a similar study about the markets for advanced ceramics in China with a focus on oxide and carbide materials.

The report starts with a broad overview and then goes into specifics such as market drivers and inhibitors, market size by end-user industry, markets structures and a summary of advanced ceramics suppliers. It then delves into data on specific market segments, including the power, chemicals, metals, machinery, automotive and electronics markets.

Each segment in the €3769 (~$5100) report covers pricing data, current business leaders (and their products), competitors, revenue streams, capacity and current projections.

Some of the companies operating in these markets that are profiled in the report include:

• Shandong Luyang Share
• Aokerola Group
• Xi’an HV Porcelain Insulator
• Saint-Gobain
• CARBO Ceramics
• Shandong Gold Phoenix Group
• Tangshan NGK
• Suzhou Insulator
• Dalian Insulator
• Shandong Wanqiao
• Zibo Industry Ceramics
• Jiangxi Pingxiang Long Fa
• Luoyang Resistant LLC
• Beijing Sinoma
• Huayan Ceramics
• Zibo Xinnaida Refractories
• Yixing Orient Petroleum Proppant

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Credit: Taiyou Research.

Taiyou Research, via Research and Markets, is offering a €338 (~$450), 110-page report on the market for advanced ceramics in the United States that includes a market profile (e.g., coatings, matrix composites, monolithics, catalyst supports, electronic parts, etc.), market segmentation, industry trends and structure, profiles of the major industry players (including Kyocera, Corning, Murata, NGK Insulators, Pall Corp., Saint-Gobain, CoorsTek and Vishay Intertechnology) and an industry forecast.

Taiyou says, currently, the US industry is worth about $10.5 billion and the company expects it to grow around 4 percent annually, short term. Taiyou makes several predictions:

• Growth in the electronic component market will be based on materials substitution, as ceramics gain use over alternatives;
• The medical product market will grow the fastest, benefiting from the increasing use of ceramics in joint implants and dental procedures;
• The advanced ceramics market has successfully ridden the worst-ever downturn without recording erosions in market value (because of the sheer magnitude of current and potential applications that make advanced ceramics less prone to windfall erosions in market net worth);
• Manufacturers are expected to look beyond the current weakness in market demand, and focus on resources and increase investments in research and development, optimization of ceramic fabrication processes, installation of technologically superior processing and quality control equipment, along with tailoring targeted marketing strategies;
• Technology improvements, especially in the fracture properties of ceramics, and evolution of new high-temperature fibers base ceramic composites, will also offer ample opportunities for growth.

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The Energy Innovation track at the Ceramic Leadership Summit June 21-22 in Baltimore, Md., will highlight advances and challenges facing the the future of energy creation, harvesting and storage. Nuclear energy, solid-oxide fuel cells and sodium metal halide batteries are just a sample of the topics to be covered by industry leaders.

Here are the abstracts for the planned presentations in this track -

Enabling a nuclear renaissance: ‘Better, faster, cheaper’ using advanced ceramics (John Marra, associate lab director, Savannah River National Lab)

The nuclear industry is at the eye of a perfect storm with fuel oil and natural gas prices near record highs, worldwide energy demands increasing at an alarming rate, and increased concerns about greenhouse gas emissions that have caused many to look negatively at long-term use of fossil fuels.  This convergence of factors has led to a growing interest in revitalization of the nuclear power industry within the United States and across the globe. This session will discuss the critical role that ceramic materials play throughout the entire fuel cycle and the critical role of materials advancements in the nuclear renaissance.

Next steps for fuel cells (Two presentations: Robert Rose, Robert Rose, senior advisor, US Fuel Cell Council; Claus Peter Kluge, R&S manager, CeramTec AG)

(Rose) Fuel cells are entering early markets in consumer products, generators of electricity; combined heat and power systems, industrial vehicles, and much more. Solid oxide systems are being developed for many of these markets, and the DOE envisions SOFC systems as simplifying and reducing the cost of carbon sequestration from coal. Rose will discuss the fuel cell vision, and the steps needed to make the vision a reality.

(Kluge) There was and is a fascination for converting energy only in two main portions: heat and electricity. There is no need for moving parts like pistons which will generate additional parasitic losses like friction and noise. Where we come from defines the state-of-the-art. Future technological, social and environmental aspects will define the way to go. The goal is to decrease costs and complexity in the customers’ cognition and to morph the specialty into a high volume standard product. The challenges are material development and processing to get well-defined, efficient and reliable products.

An industry perspective: Development and application of ceramic materials for efficient and clean power generation (William Treadway, group leader for ceramics and deputy department leader for the Physical Sciences Department, United Technologies Research Center; Ellen Sun, principal research scientist, UTRC)

UTRC is the central research organization for United Technologies Corporation - a world leader in the development and integration of energy efficient and clean power generation systems. The presentation will share UTRC’s experience in materials development, component testing, and system or sub-system demonstration and discuss material needs for near-term efficient and low emission power systems.

Materials for advanced sodium metal halide batteries (Mohamed Rahmane, senior engineer/project leader, GE Global Research)

The world needs large-scale energy storage devices and systems that are safe, reliable and economical. There are currently very few economically viable and technically feasible storage solutions that are dispatchable and meet the stringent cost and reliability demands. High-energy-density sodium metal halide battery technology is emerging as one of the key solutions, and GE is addressing the technology challenges and taking it to the manufacturing and commercial stages. This presentation will discuss the critical role that materials, particularly ceramics, play in the performance and life of sodium metal halide batteries.

The Ceramic Leadership Summit offers cutting edge industry discussion by the world’s scientific leaders. Become a part of the future of ceramics. Register now.

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Monolithic ceramics represent the dominant and best-established segment of the industry). Ceramic matrix composites and ceramic coatings will achieve the more rapid gains, primarily due to their enhanced strength and durability.

A recently released report by the Freedonia Group shows that advanced ceramics will continue to penetrate applications such as capacitors, cutting tools, orthopedic joint implants and membranes, where they are valued for their favorable performance characteristics. Demand is estimated to be lower for body armor, as the Obama administration’s goal is to significantly reduce military involvement in Iraq.

The use of advanced ceramics is highly dependent on the health of the electronic components and electrical equipment industries, which combined accounted for 43% of total demand in 2007. The U.S. electronic components industry is projected to remain sluggish, limiting further advanced ceramics demand.

The medical product market will post the most rapid gains, benefiting from the increasing utilization of ceramics in joint implants and dental procedures.

Other markets set to post above-average gains include chemicals and plastics, environmental, industrial machinery and transportation equipment.

In the environmental market, pollution control is the largest application, but interest in reducing the country’s dependence on foreign oil will also provide opportunities. Emerging applications include the use of ceramic bearings in wind turbines and ceramic materials in photovoltaic modules.

The full report can be viewed at ceramicindustry.com.

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