From cellular phones and compact discs to jet engines large enough to contain a standing person, heterolayer technology is a vital part of engineered products.

This project applies state-of-the-art techniques of materials processing and characterization to the study of piezoelectric oxide materials, to establish quantitative links between domain orientation and the various mechanisms of poling.

One way of allowing a superalloy gas turbine blade to operate at higher temperatures is to apply a thermal barrier coating - essentially a layer of insulation that keeps the surface of the metal cooler. This requires appropriate mechanical properties, as measured by Professor Trice, and the coatings must be free of dangerous flaws.