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IN THIS ISSUE Left Brain, Right Brain To Protect and To Serve Online Biology Taking to the Streets Chancellor’s Page Development News Factoids NewsMakers |
Ceramics The same material that is used to make toilets also protects the Space Shuttle and gives Grandma a new hip. In one incarnation or another, ceramics are all around us. We all recognize a ceramic bathroom fixture, but some forms are less obvious. Kevlar, which is used in bulletproof vests for the military and law enforcement, is made by superheating a ceramic precursor, running it through sieves to make threads, then weaving the threads into a fabric of sorts. Ceramic tiles on tanks are structurally porous to disperse the energy of ammunition impact. And the Space Shuttle’s exterior tiles, that are at once brittle and yet strong enough to shield the craft and its occupants from intense heat, are also ceramic. So are battery-operated smoke detectors, air bag triggers, transistors and even the alarm beeper on your wrist watch or pager. “Solid state” circuits have no moving parts. Rather, they employ piezoelectricity, which is a property of certain crystalline materials, either natural as in quartz or in certain manufactured ceramics. In some cases the crystalline molecular structure will produce electricity when under pressure; in other cases, when electricity is applied, the material will undergo dimensional changes which produce motion. The latter reaction happens, for example, in a piezoelectric fan when the opposing shrinking and expanding of infintessimally thin ceramic materials start the fan blades to spin –– and since the ceramic is nonmetallic, there’s nothing to rust or squeak. The piezo reaction is so predictable and so constant that you can literally set your watch by it. In fact, a quartz-movement watch runs on the piezoelectric vibration of a piece of natural quartz. The automobile’s catalytic converter is ceramic and uses piezoelectricity to “grab” carbon monoxide from the engine and thereby reduce pollution released into the atmosphere. Ceramics are nonorganic, nonmetallic and nonreactive, so they are ideal for medical uses because the body doesn’t reject them. Artificial hip joints are ceramic as are certain discs implanted to stabilize fractures and serve as a framework for bone regrowth. Even those pretty porcelain caps on your teeth are ceramic. |
LASSIE COME HOME. Brian Gillis used a clay collie as the subject of his study in hot pink that was exhibited in the Mesa College art gallery as part of the citywide events for the recent convention of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Gillis is completing
his first full year as a ceramics professor at Mesa College and says he
continues to be amazed by the students’ potential. “They bring energy and creativity with them every day,” he said. “Many are looking to use some of what they learn here in their careers, and so imagination is important for them, but even those who are here without a related vocation in mind offer great ingenuity in this discipline.” Gillis, who has his master’s in fine arts from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, also says he enjoys bringing recognition to the “unsung, everyday stuff” in life, which led him to curate an exhibit of industrial ceramics in the Mesa Learning Resource Center during the NCECA convention in San Diego. “While there aren’t that many job opportunities for ceramic artists, there are opportunities for ceramic engineers,” Gillis said. “These are people who problem-solve with inorganic compounds. They deal on the molecular level. It’s a strong blend of science and engineering.” |
