So far we have investigated EuO containing Al₂O₃-SiO₂ glass for visible Faraday Rotation devices, where we used infrared-image furnace and rapid-melt-quenching to increase EuO content in glass. In this study, magnetic and optical properties of 70EuAl₂O₄-30SiO₂ glasses doped with or without Co²⁺ or Fe²⁺ ions were reported.

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Transparent nanocrystallized glasses containing Ba2TiSi2O8 nanocrystals with the size of ~100 nm are obtained by heat treatments for BaO-TiO2-SiO2 glasses. Such nanocrystallized glasses have attractive properties such as second harmonic generation. In this study, elastic and mechanical properties of crystallized glasses consisting of Ba2TiSi2O8 nanocrystals were evaluated using a nanoindentation technique. Young's modulus and indentation hardness increased from 90 to 113 (MPa) and 6.7 to 8.4 (GPa) with increasing volume fraction of nanocrystals. The deformation energy was increased with increasing volume fraction. In particular, the plastic deformation energy was found to be 114-136 (kJmol^-1), which is close to the Ba-O single bond energy (~138 kJmol,^-1).

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Sr-Al-O:Eu²⁺ phosphor was synthesized by firing from Sr-Al-Eu oxide obtained from metal-EDTA complexes on single crystalline MgO substrate. In this study, temperature dependence of luminescence on Sr-Al-O:Eu²⁺ phosphors were investigated. Emission peaks at 510 and 460 nm were detected at 300 K. On decreasing of temperature, the emission peak at 460 nm was fixed and emission peak at 510 nm increased to 518 nm at 20 K. These results indicated that emission mechanisms on 460 and 510 nm have different temperature dependence.

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beta-Si_6-zAl_zO_zN_8-z powders were prepared via a self-propagating combustion of powder mixtures composed of Si, SiO₂, Si₃N₄, AlN, and Al₂O₃ under 6 MPa N₂. Effects of processing parameters such as z values and starting compositions on the combustion temperatures and properties of synthesized powders were systematically investigated in order to obtain fundamental data for future investigation on combustion synthesis of SiAlON phosphors.

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Rare-earth doped luminescent materials are becoming more and more important as the optical fiber amplifiers in telecommunication, downconverting phosphors in the white Light Emitting Diodes, LED. We have developed Er-doped and Tm-doped glasses for broadband amplifiers in the wavelength-division multiplexing system. Also we have developed novel glass ceramic phosphors for white LEDs. The materials show excellent thermal durability and mechanical strength, indicating "All Inorganic Solution" for the high-power illumination, which is expected in the near future.

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Particle motions in ceramic paste with plastic deformation was observed directly with the confocul scanning laser fluorescent microscopy (CSLFM). Paste with 50vol% was prepared from spherical SiO2-glass powder with 1.9m mean diameter, glycerin solution, fluorescence, and carboxy-methyl-cellulose (CMC). Particles in paste with CMC 3wt% were aligned by shear stress. Rheorogy behaviors under constant shear stress with time was related to changing of internal structures. CMC in paste increased particle-particle interactions

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TiO2 porous material with fine-patterned over multiple length scales were prepared by combining replication technique, poly vinyl alcohol (PVA), TiO2 nanosize particles. Our study is based on the idea that PVA can be easily detached from a quartz mold by peeling. The respective ordered structures can be independently modified by choosing different quartz mold patterns. We confirmed that micron and sub-micron-sized fine-structured TiO2 patterns containing nanosized pores could be fabricated using this procedure. The results presented demonstrate the compositional and structural diversities that are possible with a facile approach and simple method.

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Activity of "Science classroom for elementary and junior high school students in remote area" organized by the Japanese Society of Applied Physics is introduced. The science classrooms are held for the students living in the remote areas, who can not take "Refresh science classroom" in universities and science museums.

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Education on ceramics science and technology for the young generation becomes more and more important toward the sustainable progress of ceramic field. In this survey, we have visited five Japanese high schools, namely, Izuo, Seto, Arita, Tokoname and Tajimi, which have a department of ceramics. Current situation and future prospect of ceramic education in Japanese high schools will be reported.

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Fine Particle Processing Group in Nano Ceramics Center has provided a practical event entitled "Let's make cosmetics of natural materials which are gentle to the skin" aiming to actually experience a part of ceramics processing for general visitors during NIMS Open House in the Science and Technology week. In this presentation, the content of the event and the detailed recipe for making a natural foundation using iron oxides as pigments will be introduced.

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Faculty of Engineering, Niigata University has been executing an initial education program "Breaking Away from Shallow Learning Habits" for first-year students to educate his or her ability to solve problems in engineering fields. In this presentation, we introduce the outline of our approach and the case of one experimental project: crystal precipitation in aqueous solutions. This experiment is so easy to do but makes the students puzzled because they believe 'beautiful' crystals automatically appear without any controlled conditions. They tried to seek the gap between the experimental results and their knowledge and got better results in the second trial. The reports and questionnaire survey proved that this project was highly effective to improve their ability to solve problems and gave them strong motivation to learn.

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Recently, it has become very important to train talents who can create materials and products from the view of a Kansei engineering. As an attempt to educate about ceramic materials in a Kansei engineering, a crystallization behavior of iron oxide in a glassy glaze layer was studied. The similar composition of a traditional glaze for potteries was selected as model. The glaze containing iron oxide and titanium oxide as coloring agents was coated on the model pottery substrate and heat-treated at various temperature programs. The change of color and tone due to the crystallization was examined by a XRD and microscope measurements.

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We have tried to improve student's problem discovery ability and problem solving skill through the student experiment to promote creativity. Most students feel the lack of basic knowledge and the lack of the experimental technique strongly according to the questionnaire survey after the experiment. The role of the experimental technique and basic knowledge in the creativity promotion experiment were continuously examined.

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NIT has started our unique education program for fostering young ceramics researchers and innovators with globalization. The program, including long-term internship based on our collaborations with overseas and/or domestic ceramics-research organizations, is believed to promote the consciousness reform in the students and bring a significant education effect.

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Antimicrobial activities of porcelain glazes with antimicrobial agents made of clay minerals intercalated silver chelate, and effect of additives to the antimicrobial agents on the activities were investigated. The antimicrobial activities of the glazes with 10 mass % of the antimicrobial agents fired at 1573K in the reducing atmosphere showed negative, but these with 1-10 mass % of the agents fired in the oxidizing atmosphere positive. Especially, the glaze with an agent doped with zirconium had a high antimicrobial activity by adding only 0.2 mass % of the agent.

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Mixture of kaolin and CaCO₃ shows remarkable sintering between 900 and 1000 degree C by generation of active metastable amorphous materials. In this study, low-temperature sinterable porcelain body containing powder mixture of fine kaolin and CaCO3 was prepared, and effect of additives such as quartz powder and glass powder on sintering characteristics and mechanical strength of porcelain was examined.

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