Prof. Dr. EDGAR DUTRA ZANOTTO
Materials Science and Engineering, UFSCar - Federal University of São Carlos
Director of the Center for Research, Tech. and Education in Vitreous Materials, BR
Bio
Edgar Dutra Zanotto (EDZ) has been a professor at the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil, since December 1976. He has also been serving as an editor of Elsevier´s Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids since 2010. In the past 46 years, Professor Zanotto had dozens of research contracts and consulting agreements with funding agencies and glass industries. His main expertise refers to glass science topics on dynamic processes (viscous flow, diffusion, relaxation, crystallization) and properties of glasses and glass-ceramics. In the past 5 years he became interested in the use of Artificial Intelligence approaches to understand and develop novel glasses with property combinations. As a result of his research work, EDZ has published over 400 original and review papers, 25 book chapters, 3 books, 5 book prefaces, 27 filled patents with his students and collaborators, and advised 95 theses and postdocs. As regards to glass crystallization, he is the most prolific at Scopus with the keywords “crystal, nucleation, and glass”. EDZ has received 59 science awards from various organizations around the world. His awards include 7 of the most important international glass research awards and distinctions (Zachariasen Award, Gottardi Prize, Morey Award, Foster Research Prize; Turner, Cooper, and Scholes Lecturer), and the Zanotto Award created by MRS India. He is a member of 5 science academies and a Fellow of the ACerS, SGT, and the Brazilian Ceramic Society.
Presentation
Glass-ceramics: marvels with a few problems
The first glass-ceramic (GC) is 70 years old; they were “accidentally” discovered by S.D. Stookey in 1953. Glass-ceramics are inorganic, non-metallic materials prepared by controlled crystallization of glasses via different processing methods. They contain at least one type of functional crystalline phase and a residual glass. The volume fraction crystallized may vary from ppm to almost 100%. Glass-ceramics comprise a noteworthy class of unique materials that can deliver unusual property combinations, such as extremely low thermal expansion coefficient; optical transparency or translucency; high stiffness, hardness, fracture strength, and toughness; high or low electrical conductivity; bioactive behavior; controlled chemical durability and superior aesthetics. From a scientific perspective, they are ideal materials for controlling and studying nano- or micro-structure/property relationships. From a technological standpoint, glass-ceramics wide range of valuable properties renders them perfect choices for sophisticated domestic and high-tech applications.
In this talk we will review some of GCs most valuable properties and applications, such as transparent cooking ware, cooktop plates, telescope mirrors, cell phone screens, hard disk substrates, photo-thermo refractive gratings, dental prostheses, bioactive materials for bone replacement, nuclear waste disposal hosts, and artificial stones for architecture. Finally, we will also dwell on some complications regarding their synthesis, such as crystallization-triggered bubbles, spontaneous cracking, and microstructural gradients, as well as possible solutions for these problems.