Overview : Status and current developments in nanomaterials

During the past year, several cenferences have focused on the synthesis and processing of nanestructured materials, as well as their properties and performance in cansalidated forms. PM 2 TEC99 provided yet anather forum for scientific and technical discussions in this rapidly growing field. In what follows, we will present highlights of the progress being made in the nanomaterials field. One of the mast significant developments has been the shift in emphasis from powder synthesis to powder consolidation. The major challenge has been to maintain an vitrafine grain structure in the consolidated material. This is relatively easy to achieve in thermal spraying of coatings, because of the shart particle residence times in the hot zone of the plasma or combustion flame. On the other hand, consalidation of bulk materials, involving solid or liquid phase sintering, inevitably exposes the materials to high temperatures for much longer times so that grain coarsening is more difficult to circumvent.