CeramicAsh: Material and Method

The manufacturing process for cement and other high strength ceramics typically requires high temperature sintering that becomes costly at high volumes. Portland cement uses chemical bonding in order to avoid the costs associated with high temperature sintering, but other downstream processing conditions still render it expensive and its mechanical properties are still inferior to sintered ceramics. Chemically bonded ceramics (CBCs) attempt to bridge the gap between material properties and manufacturing costs. CBCs are high mechanical strength and corrosion resistance materials that avoid high temperature sintering through a fast, room temperature chemical bonding manufacturing process.

Dr. Jenn-Ming Yang and colleagues in the UCLA Department of Materials Science and Engineering have developed a method for reducing the manufacturing costs of CBCs through the development of CeramicAsh^TM. By using fly ash, a waste product produced at coal burning power plants, CeramicAsh^TM boasts a compressive strength of roughly double that of Portland cement at a fraction of the weight. The inventors have also demonstrated that the material’s density, transparency, and pH can be tailored to produce specific solutions. Such versatility allows for a myriad of potential applications for this inexpensive yet robust new material.

Researchers have produced CeramicAsh^TM using their methods, and have demonstrated the various mechanical properties listed. Currently, the inventors are testing CeramicAsh^TM fabrication at industrial levels, and experimenting with different reinforcing materials to confer additional useful properties.