Title:  Ceramics

Speaker: Hideo Mabuchi, Stanford

Time: Tuesday 25. April, 10:15-11:00

Place:  1520-616

Abstract: 

Macro- and micro-crystalline glazes are well known in the ceramic arts.  We are much less aware of the key role that *nanoscale* crystals, which are too small to see individually with the unaided eye, play in the development of surface color in atmospheric firing – wood, salt and soda – of unglazed clay.  In this talk I will show and discuss microscope images that illustrate our contemporary understanding of “flashing” and related phenomena based on nano-crystal growth during kiln cooling.  The story will be told in simple non-technical terms, but at the end of the talk I will indicate some intriguing potential connections (via zeolites and nanoparticle chains) to high-tech materials that engineers are investigating for power storage and for removal of chemical contaminants from gas emissions and water.  Some loose analogies will likewise emerge between atmospheric firing and experimental petrology.

There will be tea and coffee from 10:00.