The quest for achieving practical nuclear fusion has driven the exploration of various types of fusion, each offering a distinct methodology and holding its own promise for future energy production. At its core, nuclear fusion involves the merging of two light atomic...
A History of Hall Effect Thrusters
Hall Effect Thrusters were originally conceptualized in 1911 and began being implemented in the 1950’s and now are the main method of satellite propulsion in space. The move away from flammable propellant has spawned a wide array of propulsion technologies, with...
Hypersonic Speed & Ultra-High Temperature Ceramics
The history of speed shows the greatest ingenuity, in developing from a single horsepower to some of the mightiest machines traveling at the greatest velocities. Speed has always required cutting edge technology to continue breaking the constraints, to allow us to...
Advanced Ceramics for Ultra High Vacuum Applications
The first time I heard the expression “ultra-high vacuum”, I was sitting in a meeting in the 1970’s, looking at drawings, and was asked if the parts in the drawing complied. Luckily my colleague was on the ball and I did not need to confess that I wasn’t sure what they meant.
Ultra-high vacuum […]
What are Machinable Ceramics?
For most people, ceramics are hard, brittle materials, mostly associated with tiles, bricks, and pottery. These functional and mostly clay-based materials are the most common ceramics in daily use. The more specialist technical ceramics used in extreme environments and demanding […]