12 August 2004
Alumina in the clear
A new method of preparing bulk volumes of alumina-based glasses and nanoscale glass-ceramics is reported this week. The approach can be applied to a range of amorphous and nanocrystalline ceramics, which do not contain conventional 'glass-forming' components. Researchers from the 3M Company obtained dense bulk materials via viscous sintering of glass microbeads, followed by additional heat treatement to produce transparent nanoceramics with a hardness similar to that of alumina.
Bulk glasses and ultrahard nanoceramics based
on alumina and rare-earth oxides
A. ROSENFLANZ, M. FREY, B. ENDRES, T. ANDERSON, E.
RICHARDS & C. SCHARDT
Nature 430, 761–764 (2004); doi:10.1038/nature02729
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Materials science: Flame-broiled alumina
PAUL F. MCMILLAN
A method for preparing aluminate glasses and glass-ceramic composites
opens up new possibilities for generating mechanically strong structural
components and high-hardness coatings.
Nature 430, 738 (2004); doi:10.1038/430738a
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