Research Capabilities
Glass and Materials Science
The Glass and Materials Science Team in the Radiological Materials and Technology Development group develops innovative materials and fabrication processes for a wide range of applications, including nuclear waste immobilization, coal gasification, radiation detection, and catalysis. This team has expertise in bulk and film processing of glasses and ceramics as well as material characterization by diffraction, microscopy, and spectroscopy.
The team has particular strengths in synthesis,
Our applied research has historically involved a large amount of work in development waste forms for nuclear waste immobilization. Recently, however, we have had an increasing amount of work in functional materials design and synthesis.
In addition to our work in applied research, our staff maintains basic theoretical research and development interests including
- the nature and structure in the non-crystalline, amorphous, and glassy state
- property evolution in very complex (10+ constituent) glass/ ceramic systems
- melting and crystallization thermodynamics and kinetics
- glass corrosion and chemical durability
- crystal chemistry and optical, electrical, and magnetic properties of inorganic materials
- effects of ionizing radiation on materials