The continuing development of ceramic materials, along with an increasing number of industrial applications, is posing new challenges for the materials science industry.

Measuring the elastic properties of a green ceramic as it is being fired can be difficult and often requires sophisticated non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques. One effective method is called the the impulse excitation technique (IET).

Acoustic micro-imaging tools perform the non-destructive imaging and analysis of internal features (including anomalies and defects) in advanced ceramics and other materials by pulsing ultrasound into the sample and receiving the return echoes.

In today’s manufacturing world, materials production and supply have grown increasingly complex. Business moves quickly, information is exchanged across the globe almost instantaneously, and pressure for immediate performance can be extremely high—even in industries that require long production cycles. As a result, product shipment and quality assurance can often struggle to keep up with the breakneck pace and expectations.

An internal structural defect in a ceramic chip capacitor becomes activated when it expands to create an electrical leakage path between two adjacent electrode layers.