お問い合わせ先
University-Industry Cooperation and Research Program Division,
Research Program Department,
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
5-3-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083, JAPAN
TEL
+81-3-3263-1728
Ceramic materials have diverse functions—attracting attention as key materials supporting the electronic information, aerospace, automotive, and other cutting edge industries and additional note in relation to the environment and energy—and Japan has come to lead the world in developing and finding applications for them.
However, because they are still somewhat insufficient in terms of reliability and costs, worries remain that not as much progress has been made on practical applications as was initially anticipated. If reliability issues that arise from a lack of ductility and other factors can be overcome, great advances will be made rapidly in the industries that use ceramic materials, as if the floodgates had burst open, and the ripple effects will be immeasurable.
Based on previous research, detailed research into material microstructures is needed to fully resolve the reliability issue, and the supposition is that controlling material microstructures is the key. Microstructures consist of crystal grains and their boundaries and interfaces, and because they are organized on multi-scale level—from atomic to nanometer and submicron scale—the fundamentals of microstructural development from grain boundaries and interfaces must be elucidated for the properties of ceramic materials to be controlled and for the reliability of ceramic materials to be improved.
Additionally, even if the laws mentioned above are elucidated, process science and technology will be indispensable to the preparation of materials with correctly controlled microstructures, and, particularly with regard to ceramics, anticipations are that this problem will be an essentially important issue. As such, in addition to existing powder processing technologies, there will be a strong need to mobilize all sorts of techniques for research, such as technologies to construct microstructures from the atomic level with organic molecules or polymers as precursors.
With the preceding in mind, this committee’s goal is to strive for technological breakthroughs through scholarly research into the laws pertaining to ceramic microstructures and the processing of ceramic materials—which possess various excellent advanced functions that include not only heat and corrosion resistance, but also mechanical, electrical, and electronic applications—that is based on close cooperation among researchers specializing in metals, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry and engineers from the many companies that have a deep interest in this matter.
| 1. | Elucidation of fundamentals for microstructure control using the microscopic analysis of grain boundaries |
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| 2. | Scientific research into process parameters focusing on grain boundary control (including the elucidation of superplasticity mechanisms and development of methods for manufacturing components with complex shapes) |
| The two themes above are intensively researched by the Subcommittee on Grain Boundary and Interfacial Phenomena | |
| 3. | Invention of advanced ceramics (silicon-X- M series) through organic-inorganic conversion |
| X = boron, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen; M = aluminum, chromium, iron, and titanium. This work is carried out by the Subcommittee on Organic-Inorganic Conversion (2) Control of microstructure (from atomic to multi-scale level) and chemical composition (3) Preparation of single crystal, polycrystalline and amorphous ceramics; bulk ceramics, films and fibers (4) Research into the preparation of composite materials |
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| 4. | Research into improvements to engineering ceramics (aluminum nitride, silicon carbide, sialons, zirconium dioxide) |
| 5. | Programs that contribute to education and international interaction |
February 1958
Academia: 45
Industry: 34
Total membership: 79
| Yoshio Sakka Senior Scientist with Special Missions National Institute for Materials Science |
