NSF turns to ancient pottery to improve modern heat resistant ceramics
(PhysOrg.com) -- In order to better understand how ceramics are able to resist heat, the National Science Foundation has awarded grants totaling half a million dollars to three research groups to look into how the ancient Greeks made their pottery, a process which allowed for as many as 100,000 vases to survive from ancient antiquity to now - a period of some twenty five hundred years. The hope is that such research will reveal more about the nature of iron-spinel chemistry, which is what gives ceramics an ability to withstand heat while remaining chemically stable. Getting a better grip on how ceramics work is critical to future space flight technological efforts, as ceramics are used to help space vehicles withstand both extreme hot and cold temperatures.