High Tech Ceramics News articles from August 2003

High Tech Ceramics News archives from August 2003

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS: Kiln Furniture Market Soars.
August 1, 2003... Kiln furniture is defined as a vehicle for carrying ceramic objects for firing. It is called furniture since it is the seat of ceramic articles, which need to be fired at elevated temperatures. Kiln furniture serves as the support for firing...

PROCESSING & TECHNOLOGIES Carborundum Intros Flap Discs.
August 1, 2003... Carborundum Abrasives is a brand of Saint Gobain Abrasives. The newest additions to the Carborundum Premier Red line of flap discs include extra thick wear-away plastic-backed discs made with zirconia alumina and ceramic abrasives. The plastic...

METROLOGY & ANALYSIS: Atmosphere to Vacuum Transducer Introduced.
August 1, 2003... MKS Instruments, Inc. - HPS Products has introduced the HPS Series 979 Atmosphere to Vacuum Transducer. The Series 979 combines the wide-range MicroPirani (10-4 to ATM) with the low-powered Mini Ion Gauge (10-10 to 10-2), providing an overall...

POWDERS & NANO CERAMICS: Praxair, Bayer Codevelop CMP Slurries.
August 1, 2003... Praxair, Inc. and H.C. Starck GmbH, an affiliate company of Bayer AG, have formed an alliance to develop, manufacture, and supply colloidal silica slurries for the semiconductor chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) market. The slurries will...

Titania Makes Supersensitive Sensors.
August 1, 2003... Titania nanotubes are 1,500 times better than the next best material for sensing hydrogen and may be one of the first examples of materials properties changing dramatically when crossing the border between real-world sizes and nanoscopic...

Altair's Material Exceeds DOE Standards.
August 1, 2003... Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. has reports that battery prototypes based on the company's nano-sized lithium titanate spinel have been developed by Telecordia Technologies. The prototype battery characteristics significantly exceeded Department...

Clark Files for Nano Bismuth Trioxide.
August 1, 2003... Clark Manufacturing, LLC has developed a patent pending direct oxidation technology that produces high-purity, brilliant yellow nanosized bismuth trioxide particles. (The process is also capable of producing bismuth trioxide in white and...

COATINGS: Strategic Alliance in Thermal Spray.
August 1, 2003... Sulzer Metco, a leader in thermal spray technology, and Tecnar Automation Lte, a producer of thermal spray sensor technology, have joined forces, with Sulzer Metco becoming the exclusive, global source for Tecnar spray sensor systems in the...

FIBERS & COMPOSITES: Hybrid Composite Components Modeled.
August 1, 2003... Researchers G. Jefferson, T.A. Parthasarathy, and R.J. Kerans at Wright Patterson Air Force Research Laboratory have conducted modeling of hybrid components designed for improved performance. Analysis of a proposed jet engine combustor design...

DIAMOND PRODUCTS: Soft Bond Alloy from GE.
August 1, 2003... GE superabrasives has developed a new diamond. Custom developed for soft metal bond matrixes, the new MBS SB diamond from GE Superabrasives makes the two primary failure modes of soft bond matrixes-poor diamond retention and bond erosion-a...

ADVANCED GLASSES: Corning to Expand Taiwan Plant.
August 1, 2003... Corning, Inc., a manufacturer of optical fiber, cable, hardware, and equipment in the telecommunications segment, has announced that its board of directors has approved the first of a three- phased, $180 million capital expenditure plan to...

BIOCERAMICS: Retrieved Zirconia Balls Analyzed.
August 1, 2003... An international team of researchers from the United States and Japan-D. Green, I.C. Clarke, T. Donaldson (Loma Linda University, CA); G. Pezzotti (Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan); and M. Ries (University of California-San Francisco,...

Additives Improve HAp Ceramics.
August 1, 2003... With the increase in average age of the human population, the challenges of treating bone defects and repairs are rising. Hydroxyapatite (HAp), a bioactive ceramic, is known for its excellent biocompatibility, but exhibits poor mechanical...

FUEL CELLS: Nanodynamics Announces SOFC Breakthrough.
August 1, 2003... NanoDynamics, Inc. recently announced a breakthrough in the development of intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). A newly developed processing technique will allow a sintered SOFC to produce electrical power at temperatures...

ELECTRONIC CERAMICS: Cree Demonstrates SiC Substrates.
August 1, 2003... Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) has announced that it has demonstrated the capability of producing a 100-mm 4-H semi-insulating silicon carbide (SiC) substrate. According to Cree, this represents a milestone in the advancement of single crystal...

Actuators Fabricated With Diffusion Bonding.
August 1, 2003... Under a NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (Houston, TX) contract, researcher Frank E. Sager of Oceaneering Space Systems has developed a technique for the fabrication of piezoelectric actuators. These actuators generate acceptably large...

Applied Materials Offers Innovative CMP.
August 1, 2003... Applied Materials, Inc. announced an innovative CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) technology, Reflexion LK, the industry's low down force, high-throughput CMP system that enables chipmakers to planarize a wide range of low k and ultra-low k...

Ramtron Introduces Fram Product.
August 1, 2003... Ramtron International Corp. (Nasdaq: RMTR), a leading supplier of specialty semiconductor memory products, has introduced and began sampling the first FRAM (ferroelectric random access memory) built using 0.35-micron design rules. Advances...

Vishay Receives Award from Celestica.
August 1, 2003... Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. was awarded a Partners in Performance award for 2002 by Celestica, a world leader in electronics manufacturing services (EMS). "Vishay is pleased to be recognized by an industry leader like Celestica," says...

SUPERCONDUCTORS: Superconductive Receives Contract from U.S. DOE.
August 1, 2003... Superconductive Components received an interim contract for approximately $105,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy for a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The program is intended to determine the feasibility of...

INDUSTRY NEWS: Cree Acquires Patent from ABB.
August 1, 2003... Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) has purchased a portfolio of patents and patent applications relating to silicon carbide (SiC) technology from ABB. A joint announcement was made by Cree and ABB Research, Ltd. The technology covered by the patents...

Nanopowder Enterprises Changes to NEI Corp.
August 1, 2003... NEI Corp. is the new name for Nanopowder Enterprises, Inc., as of July 1, 2003. The name change has come about due to a shift in focus away from nanopowders, and toward value-added nanomaterials and nanoadditives targeted at specific...

Nanox Raises $2.9M at Second Round.
August 1, 2003... Nanox, a Quebec-based developer of autocatalyst materials based on nanostructured oxide materials, announced that it closed on $2.9 million in second-round funding. The round was led by Pangaea Ventures. The Solidarity Fund QFL, Business...

Companies Report Quarterly Results.
August 1, 2003... The quarterly sales and earning reports are coming in. It's a mixed bag this time. Here are some of the leaders: * American Superconductor Corp. reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2004 ended June 30, 2003. Net...

CALENDAR.
August 1, 2003... September 7-9, 2003. 101st Annual Technical Meeting of the Canadian Ceramic Society, Holiday Inn Burlington, Burlington, Ontario, Canada. Contact: Canadian Ceramic Society, P.O. Box 6136, Westerville, OH 43086-6136; Tel: 614/890-4700, Fax:...