MAT™ BENEFITS

MAT™ can be applied in several areas of material science. MAT™ benefits may be most pronounced with ceramic materials and processes. The extraordinary potential combination of benefits includes: 

1) Time - Large scale MAT™ firing of silicon carbide-alumina sleeves produced a savings in time of up to 80% when compared to times required conventionally.

2) Energy - Large scale MAT™ firing of the same material produced a savings in energy of up to 60% when compared to conventional processing.

3) Finer Grain Sizes - Shorter processing times typically provided finer grain size. Strength and toughness of structural ceramics were improved.

4) Grain Boundary Composition - The electrical, magnetic, and optical properties of materials are determined by grain size, grain boundary composition, and phase distribution. MAT™ offers the ability to engineer grain boundaries.

5) Lower Temperature Processes - Calcination can be achieved at lower temperature in shorter times, with finer particle size. For calcined powders, this reduced the amount of grinding needed to achieve fine particles.

6) Reduced Emissions - It is a Green Technology. By reducing energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions are reduced. Additional pollution reductions are achieved as a result of shorter processing times as well, including but not limited to reduced hydrogen fluoride emissions from the decomposition of naturally occurring fluorite in clay products.

7) Reduced Thermal Shock - Delivering heat volumetrically reduces temperature gradients and with it the risk of thermal shock at accelerated heating rates.