New ceramic materials technology developed

Abstract

A new technique for the formation of nanomaterials has been developed in a joint project at the Institute of Materials Science of the University of Connecticut, working with the department of chemistry and chemical engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology. The new technique, described at a Division of Colloid & Surface Chemistry symposium on mechanisms in chemical vapor deposition, permits the production of nanocomposite materials in significant amounts. Nanomaterials are those wherein the constituent phase morphology is reduced to nanometer dimensions (5 to 100 nm). According to Peter R. Strutt, a metallurgy professor at Connecticut, and Kenneth E. Gonsalves, a professor at Stevens, the synthesis of nanomaterials is currently limited by the conventional physical methods employed. These methods do not provide for production of significant quantities of materials. Strutt and Gonsalves have developed a new technique employing concepts from polymer chemistry and high-temperature materials processing te...