Introducing a Ductile Ceramic at Room Temperature (INDUCER)

Oxide glasses are an integral part of society, but their use is limited by their typical brittle fracture at room temperature. Glass materials, such as oxides, enable a wide range of tailored functional properties from insulators to semiconductors. They are transparent to visible light, have good chemical stability, and tolerate high temperatures. However, the brittle nature of glasses and ceramics at low temperature limits the flexible utilization of these materials in modern technologies, and therefore increasing their toughness has been one of the primary goals of materials science for decades. In this project, Dr. Erkka J. Frankberg combines disruptive manufacturing technology, basic physics research and cutting-edge experimental science to create new, fundamental information about the low-temperature plasticity phenomena of glass and ceramic materials.