Home > Press > A new study published on the cover of Science could bolster the development of batteries, fuel cells, 3D printing technologies and more
Ultrafast high-temperature sintering is an innovative approach to fabricating ceramic materials developed by UMD engineers. |
Abstract:
Scientists in the University of Maryland (UMD)’s A. James Clark School of Engineering have reinvented a 26,000-year-old manufacturing process into an innovative approach to fabricating ceramic materials that has promising applications for solid-state batteries, fuel cells, 3D printing technologies, and beyond.
Ceramics are widely used in batteries, electronics, and extreme environments—but conventional ceramic sintering (part of the firing process used in the manufacture of ceramic objects) often requires hours of processing time. To overcome this challenge, a Maryland research team has invented an ultrafast high-temperature sintering method that both meets the needs of modern ceramics and fosters the discovery of new material innovations.
The study, led by Liangbing Hu, Herbert Rabin Distinguished Professor of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and director of the Center for Materials Innovation at UMD, was published on the May 1 cover of Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz7681). Chengwei Wang, an assistant research scientist in Hu’s group, served as first author on the study.
Conventional sintering techniques require a long processing time—it takes hours for a furnace to heat up, then several hours more to ‘bake’ the ceramic material—which is particularly problematic in the development of electrolytes for solid-state batteries. Alternative sintering technologies (such as microwave-assisted sintering, spark plasma sintering, and flash sintering) are limited for a variety of reasons, often because they are material-specific and/or expensive.
The Maryland team’s new method of ultrafast high-temperature sintering offers high heating and high cooling rates, an even temperature distribution, and sintering temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Celsius. Combined, these processes require less than 10 seconds of total processing time—more than 1,000 times faster than the traditional furnace approach of sintering.
“With this invention, we ‘sandwiched’ a pressed green pellet of ceramic precursor powders between two strips of carbon that quickly heated the pellet through radiation and conduction, creating a consistent high-temperature environment that forced the ceramic powder to solidify quickly,” Hu said. “The temperature is high enough to sinter basically any ceramic material. This patented process can be extended to other membranes beyond ceramics.”
The study was conducted through close collaboration with Yifei Mo (associate professor, UMD), Bao Yang (professor, UMD), J.C Zhao (professor and department chair, UMD), Howard Wang (visiting research professor, UMD), Jian Luo (professor, UC San Diego), Xiaoyu Zheng (assistant professor, UCLA), and Bruce Dunn (professor and department chair, UCLA).
“Ultrafast high-temperature sintering represents a breakthrough in ultrafast sintering technologies, not only because of its general applicability to a broad range of functional materials, but also due to a great potential of creating non-equilibrium bulk materials via retaining or generating extra defects,” said Luo.
The rapid sintering technology is being commercialized through HighT-Tech LLC, a UMD spinoff company with a focus on a range of high temperature technologies (hight-tech.com).
More about this research:
“This new method solves the key bottleneck problem in computation and AI-guided materials discovery,” said Mo. “We’ve enabled a new paradigm for materials discovery with an unprecedented accelerated pace.”
“We are delighted to see the pyrolysis time reduced from tens of hours to a few seconds, preserving the fine 3D-printed structures after fast sintering,” Zheng said.
####
About University of Maryland
The A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland serves as the catalyst for high-quality research, innovation, and learning, delivering on a promise that all graduates will leave ready to impact the Grand Challenges (energy, environment, security, and human health) of the 21st century. The Clark School is dedicated to leading and transforming the engineering discipline and profession, to accelerating entrepreneurship, and to transforming research and learning activities into new innovations that benefit millions. Visit us online at eng.umd.edu and follow us on Twitter @ClarkSchool.
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Melissa L. Andreychek
(301) 405-0292 |
Copyright © University of Maryland
If you have a comment, please Contact us.Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Related Links |
Related News Press |
News and information
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
3D & 4D printing/Additive-manufacturing
Presenting: Ultrasound-based printing of 3D materials—potentially inside the body December 8th, 2023
Fiber sensing scientists invent 3D printed fiber microprobe for measuring in vivo biomechanical properties of tissue and even single cell February 10th, 2023
3D-printed decoder, AI-enabled image compression could enable higher-res displays December 9th, 2022
Researchers design new inks for 3D-printable wearable bioelectronics: Potential uses include printing electronic tattoos for medical tracking applications August 19th, 2022
Possible Futures
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
With VECSELs towards the quantum internet Fraunhofer: IAF achieves record output power with VECSEL for quantum frequency converters April 5th, 2024
Chip Technology
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Utilizing palladium for addressing contact issues of buried oxide thin film transistors April 5th, 2024
HKUST researchers develop new integration technique for efficient coupling of III-V and silicon February 16th, 2024
Discoveries
Chemical reactions can scramble quantum information as well as black holes April 5th, 2024
New micromaterial releases nanoparticles that selectively destroy cancer cells April 5th, 2024
Utilizing palladium for addressing contact issues of buried oxide thin film transistors April 5th, 2024
Materials/Metamaterials/Magnetoresistance
Nanoscale CL thermometry with lanthanide-doped heavy-metal oxide in TEM March 8th, 2024
Focused ion beam technology: A single tool for a wide range of applications January 12th, 2024
Announcements
NRL charters Navy’s quantum inertial navigation path to reduce drift April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Interviews/Book Reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers/Posters
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
Discovery points path to flash-like memory for storing qubits: Rice find could hasten development of nonvolatile quantum memory April 5th, 2024
Patents/IP/Tech Transfer/Licensing
Getting drugs across the blood-brain barrier using nanoparticles March 3rd, 2023
Metasurfaces control polarized light at will: New research unlocks the hidden potential of metasurfaces August 13th, 2021
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Announces Closing of Agreement with Takeda November 27th, 2020
Battery Technology/Capacitors/Generators/Piezoelectrics/Thermoelectrics/Energy storage
What heat can tell us about battery chemistry: using the Peltier effect to study lithium-ion cells March 8th, 2024
A battery’s hopping ions remember where they’ve been: Seen in atomic detail, the seemingly smooth flow of ions through a battery’s electrolyte is surprisingly complicated February 16th, 2024
Artificial Intelligence
Simulating magnetization in a Heisenberg quantum spin chain April 5th, 2024
Researchers’ approach may protect quantum computers from attacks March 8th, 2024
New chip opens door to AI computing at light speed February 16th, 2024
HKUST researchers develop new integration technique for efficient coupling of III-V and silicon February 16th, 2024
The latest news from around the world, FREE | ||
Premium Products | ||
Only the news you want to read!
Learn More |
||
Full-service, expert consulting
Learn More |
||