The Gordon Research Conferences on Solid State Studies in Ceramics have been organized annually for over fifty years. Every year, the conference focuses on the most critical areas of research at that time at the forefront of ceramic science. The 2006 GRC on Solid State Studies in Ceramics (August 13-17, 2006) will focus on the Optimization of Properties through Microstructure Design. The Gordon Research Conference has traditionally served as a unique opportunity for junior and senior researchers from differing areas to discuss their work in an informal setting and often leads to the development of new collaborative research topics. It has served as an opportunity for discussion and advancement of issues at the forefront of ceramics research. The meeting will also continue to serve as a forum for the wide recognition of the younger researchers by the ceramics community. All attendees are encouraged to present posters; this gives the younger researchers an opportunity to present their work and interact easily with the senior researchers in the informal format, which is the hallmark of a Gordon Conference. TECHNICAL DETAILS: While one of the basic principles of Ceramic Science has been that the properties and performance of ceramic materials can be manipulated through control of the microstructure, the ability to predict the performance of specific microstructures remains limited. A more critical problem is that the ability to design a realistic microstructure which will optimize the performance of a material is virtually nonexistent. With the recent interest in thin film applications and nanostructured materials, questions naturally emerge of how their microstructures can be modified and the relationship of specific microstructural details to the observed properties has taken on an important role. In addition, recent research has shown that there are local measures of the microstructure which may strongly correlate with the properties but which are difficult or not usually measured. These local measures are the next step in microstructure characterization beyond the standard metrics such as grain size and grain size distribution; crystallographic texture, phase content and phase distribution; and porosity, pore size and pore location. In order to address these issues, this conference will bring together a wide range of researchers who are developing modeling techniques to understand how microstructures develop, researchers who are producing new and unique microstructures, and researchers who are measuring the properties of these advanced materials with the goal of being able to design unique microstructures which will led to optimum properties.
