Yokohama National University and Kanagawa Prefectural Institute of Industrial Technology (KISTEC) are the first in the world to directly observe changes in the internal structure of ceramics being sintered at high temperatures using optical coherence tomography (OCT) that utilizes light interference. I succeeded in doing it.
Ceramics start from raw material powder and go through processes such as mixing, forming, and firing to become a product, but the aggregated state of the particles changes greatly from the raw material to the sintered body.Since the inhomogeneity inside ceramics is deeply related to the reliability of the material, it is strongly required to elucidate the formation process. Moreover, there is no method for direct observation at high speed, and it has not been fully understood.
In this research, OCT was set as an observation method in order to scientifically elucidate the manufacturing process of ceramics, which was conventionally regarded as a black box. OCT is a measurement technology that uses light interference and has been developed in the medical field such as fundus examination, but it has not been used for observing the internal structure of materials yet.Under such circumstances, by placing the sample in an electric furnace designed independently, it was possible to observe OCT while heating the sample to a high temperature, and succeeded in visualizing the formation process of the inhomogeneous structure of ceramics for the first time. ..
The OCT method has many features that cannot be covered by conventional methods, such as 3D, high resolution, non-destructive, and real-time performance.Since this technology can be applied not only to ceramics but also to plastics, it is expected to further expand its applications, and it can contribute not only to the field of materials science but also to strengthening the technological capabilities of the manufacturing industry.
