Ceramic Industry Magazine

CI May 2017 Cover

2017 May

Which company is the 2017 Ceramic Industry Supplier of the Year?

Cover Story

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Additive Manufacturing

Lithography-Based Ceramic Manufacturing

The LCM method of additive manufacturing is ideal for ceramic applications where high density and precise, fine features are needed.
Shawn Allan Daniel Bomze, Ph.D. Isabel Potestio Martin Schwentenwein Johannes Homa, Ph.D. Peter Schneider
May 1, 2017
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Additive manufacturing (AM) of ceramics doesn’t seem to garner the same attention as AM for plastics and metals. Our industry is smaller, and our products are more often behind the scenes in applications. Ceramic processing is also more complicated in many ways than that for plastics and metals.
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Features

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Supplier of the year award

The Best of the Best: Celebrating Suppliers

The winner of the 2017 Ceramic Industry Supplier of the Year Award is Saint-Gobain!
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Susan Sutton
May 1, 2017
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No industry can thrive without a strong support base of responsive, quality suppliers. We sought to celebrate suppliers to the ceramic and related industries with our 2017 Ceramic Industry Supplier of the Year Award, and we were thrilled to receive many enthusiastic nominations.
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Figure 1

Ceramic Materials Characterization Using X-Ray Diffraction

Successful ceramic manufacturing requires the correct identification of phases and an understanding of microstructure in starting powders and finished products.
May 1, 2017
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Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques can trace their origin to the pioneering work of Debye and Scherrer in Europe (1916) and Hull in the U.S. (1917).1 Their results dispelled the belief that grinding a single crystal to a powder would destroy crystallinity.
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ametek
Case Study

Improving Glass Furnace Operations

A technical glass component manufacturer is reaping multiple benefits by accurately measuring temperature within its glass melt tank.
May 1, 2017
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For nearly a century, Les Andelys, France-based Holophane has produced and transformed glass for technical applications, specifically optical glass components for automotive lighting. It has set itself apart by its understanding of both pressed glass and optics, as well as its ability to combine these two skills
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kiln furniture
Materials Innovation

Researchers Develop New Pre-Ceramic Polymer

A water-like polymer has been developed that can facilitate the creation of high-temperature ceramics suitable for multiple applications.
Jennifer Tidball
May 1, 2017
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Using five ingredients (silicon, boron, carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen), Gurpreet Singh, the Harold O. and Jane C. Massey Neff associate professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering at Kansas State University, has created a liquid polymer that can transform into a ceramic with valuable thermal, optical, and electronic properties.
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morgan ceramics
Product Focus

Kiln Furniture Supports Automotive Component Manufacturing

A new line of kiln furniture suited to the production of catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters was introduced at Ceramics Expo 2017.
May 1, 2017
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Ceramics Expo 2017 was chosen for the launch of a new range of kiln furniture from Morgan Advanced Materials. Suited to the production of catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters (DPFs), Halsic-N is a nitride-bonded silicon carbide with a microstructure that offers increased mechanical strength and greater durability than the typical materials used for firing honeycomb structures.
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gray brick trend

2017 Brick Trends

Brick manufacturers share insights regarding residential and commercial brick trends for 2017.
May 1, 2017
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Brick Industry Association (BIA) member manufacturers around the country have reported that residential and commercial brick trends include whites, light grays, ivories, rough-hewn textures, glazed brick and larger brick sizes.
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Columns

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Susan Sutton Inside CI
Inside CI

Building Partnerships

The most successful manufacturer/supplier relationships become partnerships wherein both parties contribute in order to help ensure mutual success.
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Susan Sutton
May 1, 2017
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We’ve all heard the old adage that “the customer is king.” To a certain extent, I subscribe to that concept. We certainly need to make sure that we’re meeting our customers’ needs and keeping them happy.
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Lynn Bragg Glass Works
Glass Works

Partnerships Key to Glass Recycling Success

Two recent models for how partnerships are key to glass recycling success can be found in Ohio and Colorado.
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Lynn Bragg
May 1, 2017
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Members of the glass recycling supply chain, along with local and state agency partners, are critical components to set up and facilitate many community and state glass recycling programs. Partnerships in the recycling arena are not necessarily limited to funding or capital investment for equipment or infrastructure, and often focus on recyclable materials purchasing agreements, as well as steady end markets for glass recyclables.
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