podcast

Designing a chemical reactor isn't just about kinetics and thermodynamics. The wrong material choice for a sensor, agitator, or electrode can lead to catastrophic contamination, unplanned shutdowns, and product batches worth millions being scrapped.

What's the most critical—and punishing—environment in advanced manufacturing? Often, it's the hot-zone of a high-temperature furnace. Selecting the wrong material for heating elements, supports, and shields can lead to catastrophic failure, process contamination, and costly downtime.

Join Dr. Samuel R. Matthews in this insightful episode of Material Talks. He provides a clear-headed comparison between molybdenum and niobium targets, exposing the common pitfalls and offering a decisive framework for choosing the right material for your specific battle.

What makes a tough metal suddenly snap in the cold? It's governed by the Ductile-to-Brittle Transition Temperature (DBTT). Join SAM's Samuel Matthews and consultant metallurgist Professor Alistair Reid as they explore this critical material property.

How do you control fluids with ultimate precision—without pumps, valves, or chips? The answer lies in a simple capillary tube. In this episode, Samuel is joined by microfluidics expert Professor Klaus Fischer to explore how this capillary tube sits at the heart of fields.

What does one number on your datasheet hide? It's the story of your material's quality, value, and safety. Join SAM's Samuel Matthews and German materials physicist Dr. Anja Weber as they go beyond the datasheet to decode the critical insights that Specific Gravity reveals.

Rutile or Anatase? It's more than just a crystal structure—it's a critical choice that determines the performance of your product. Join SAM's Samuel Matthews and materials expert Dr. Lena Petrova as they break down the key differences between these two forms of Titanium Dioxide.

Ever wonder how your smartphone knows when to rotate the screen, or how some medical scanners see inside the body? Often, the answer is a piezoelectric crystal.

Join Dr. Samuel Matthews at Stanford Advanced Materials to explore the uses of Iridium in depth in this episode. With Dr. Elena Rostova, an expert on high-performance metals, Samuel looks into the extraordinary properties that make this rare element indispensable in the most demanding industries.