Topic: Structural Ceramics for Extreme Environments

Speaker: Prof. Bill Lee

         Dept. of Materials and Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics (CASC), 
         Imperial College London.

Time: 10:00-12:00 AM., (Thur.) Jul. 17, 2014

Venue: Room 403, Shi Changxu Building, IMR CAS

Abstracts

Refractories, otherwise known as Controlled Microstructure Nanobonded Ceramic Composites1, have been used in extreme environments for centuries. The concept ofin situ protective behaviour emerged in the 20th century by which the refractory furnace lining reacted with the contents in a beneficial way to produce a protective interlayer2. Control of local equilibrium3 is crucial to extending refractories life. This lecture will examine, using examples from the authors own work, current development of structural ceramics for use in the extreme environments of future refractory, aerospace4 and nuclear5 applications. It will include consideration of high temperature, corrosive atmosphere and intense radiation flux (and sometimes all three).

1. WE Lee, S Zhang and M Karakus, “Refractories: Controlled Microstructure Composites for Extreme Environments,” J. Mater. Sci. 39 6675-85 (2004).

2. WE Lee and RE Moore, “The Evolution of in situ Refractories in the 20th Century,” J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 81 [6] 1385-1410 (1998).

3. WE Lee, BB Argent and S Zhang, “Complex Phase Equilibria in Refractories Design and Use,” J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 85 [12] 2911-2918 (2002).

4. A Paul, DD Jayaseelan,  S Venugopal, E Zapata-Solvas,  J Binner,  B Vaidhyanathan,  A Heaton,  P Brown  and WE Lee, “UHTC Composites for Hypersonic Applications”, Bulletin of the American Ceramic Society, 91 [1] 22-29b (2012). 

5. WE Lee, M Gilbert, S Murphy and RW Grimes, “Opportunities for Advanced Ceramics and Composites in the Nuclear Sector,” J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 96 [7] 2005-30 (2013).