The challenge of plastic pollution in our environment will be a defining issue in the coming decades. To address this problem, scientists have developed a host of next generation biodegradable plastics that have the potential to improve the sustainability of single use products. Among these are a class of materials called PHAs which are of particular interest as their microorganism origins are also the means of their decomposition. Join us for a discussion with Nick Sandland as we explore the fascinating world of biodegradable polymers and what the future of plastics will look like. The Materi ..read more

There’s more to a material’s microstructure than meets the eye! In this episode of the Materialism Podcast we dive into the world of Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) characterization, and discuss some of the important properties you can measure with it including grain size, phase distribution, texture, and more! To help us navigate this topic, we sat down with Stuart Wright and Matt Nowell from AMETEK who lend us decades of experience and intimate knowledge of the technique to provide thorough coverage of the past, present, and future of EBSD. This episode is sponsored by Gatan. A leadi ..read more

Meeting the demands of next-generation technologies will require materials to be designed and qualified at faster rates than ever before. The ICME (integrated computational materials engineering) approach is at the forefront of this innovation, blending advanced computational modeling with experimental validation to accelerate the development of new materials and open up the possibility of concurrent design. In this episode, we sit down with Jason Sebastian from QuesTek to learn how they have successfully applied the ICME method to the design of aerospace alloys and ICMD® software they built t ..read more

Examining the inside of a material is often a destructive process that risks obscuring or deforming critical details. However, advances in computed tomography have opened new opportunities to obtain high resolution, three-dimensional reconstructions of materials in a non-destructive manner. Through this technique materials scientists can now identify cracks and voids in materials without the need for mounting and polishing, observe processes like battery degradation and dendrite growth in real time, and even obtain 3D diffraction data for identifying phase distributions in a material. In cover ..read more

The ability to avoid detection is one of the most useful tricks of modern day combat aviation. In this episode we dive into some of the history of various stealth endeavors ranging from painting ships with fun stripes to creating radioactive fuel additives. All culminating in a discussion of the materials that make a plane stealthy. References: History of Radar [LINK] How do radars work? [LINK] Radar and the kill web [LINK] Review of Radar Absorbing Materials [LINK] Synthesis of radar absorption material for stealth application [LINK] Carbon-based radar absorbing materials: A critical review ..read more

We partnered with the CalNano to revisit Spark Plasma Sintering. How has the industry changed since we last discussed it? What is CalNano doing specifically to fuel that change? Take a listen and find out. Articles: A general method to synthesize and sinter bulk ceramics in seconds This episode is sponsored by CalNano. Check out their homepage here. This episode is sponsored by Materials Today, an Elsevier community dedicated to the creation and sharing of materials science knowledge and experience through their peer-reviewed journals, academic conferences, educational webinars, and more. Than ..read more

Taylor sits down with Dr. Hayden Evans of NIST and Dr. Anthony Cheetham of UCSB to talk about their research on carbon storing materials. Learn what special characteristics makes the materials they are researching well suited for CO2 capture. Articles: Perovskite-related ReO3-type structures Aluminum formate, Al(HCOO)3: An earth-abundant, scalable, and highly selective material for CO2 capture Noncryogenic Air Separation Using Aluminum Formate Al(HCOO)3 (ALF) Exclusive Recognition of CO2 from Hydrocarbons by Aluminum Formate with Hydrogen-Confined Pore Cavities Hydrogen Storage ..read more

Join us as we speak to Delta Faucet about a new way of ceramics processing. Learn how the process works and why they aren't pursuing it further at the moment. This episode is sponsored by Delta Faucet, learn more about their work and services by visiting their website. This episode is sponsored by Materials Today, an Elsevier community dedicated to the creation and sharing of materials science knowledge and experience through their peer-reviewed journals, academic conferences, educational webinars, and more. Thanks to Kolobyte and Alphabot for letting us use their music in the show! If you hav ..read more

Cryogenic Milling, the name may be self explanatory but the process is not. We sit down with Eric Eyerman CEO of at Cal Nano to talk about what Cryogenic Milling is, how Cal Nano has used it in the past, and the benefits it offers to engineers. This episode is sponsored by calnano, learn more about their work and services by visiting their website. This episode is sponsored by Materials Today, an Elsevier community dedicated to the creation and sharing of materials science knowledge and experience through their peer-reviewed journals, academic conferences, educational webinars, and more. Thank ..read more

Delve into the new (ish) exciting world of flash sintering and learn how it compares to Spark Plasma Sintering. Also get ready for a little history lesson on tceramic production in the UK. This episode is sponsored by Lucideon, learn more about their work and job opportunities by visiting their website. This episode is sponsored by Materials Today, an Elsevier community dedicated to the creation and sharing of materials science knowledge and experience through their peer-reviewed journals, academic conferences, educational webinars, and more. Thanks to Kolobyte and Alphabot for letting us use ..read more