Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Nanopowders and Technical ceramics

The array of nanopowders applications is very wide but one of the most popular applications that it offers is the one for technical ceramics. The materials used for this application are often zirconia and alumina. 

The contribution nanopowders bring to the products is mainly that it ensures more resistance to heat, a higher compacity. Moreover, it upgrades the mecahnical properties of the products in which it is incorporated. 

For the producer of ceramics, it allows a much less important consumption of energy, due to a lower sintering temperature. Of course, the lesser sintering temperature doesn't stop the product from being harder and more resistant to high temperatures than micropowders. 

Moreover the field of opportunities for this kind of product is quite wide. Thus, one can use it in steel, allegedly to produce hearths much more resistant than the traditional ones and having a higher lifespan. But it can also be used to make batteries (allegedly the superondensators) more efficient, which is an undoubtedly asset to enter the course for a gasfree car, which is the obsession of every carmaker on the planet nowadays. 

The land of plenty offered by these products is, as you can see, very wide, and a lot of young firms engulf themselves in the breach to take advantage of it. Among them, a young society called NanoE, based near Paris and working in partnership with the French center for scientific research and seems one of the most interesting products regarding this area.