The chemical process being catalyzed should have a high productivity within a specified reactor volume with high reaction rates for the desired reactions and low rates for undesired reaction pathways. This article reviews the general catalyst preparation procedures, namely, impregnation, ion exchange, and precipitation. Catalyst carriers are usually high-surface-area inorganic materials with complex pore structures, into which catalytic materials such as palladium, platinum, cobalt, chromium oxide, and vanadium pentoxide are deposited using these procedures. The article also provides information on catalyst powder processing.

Sheet molding compounds (SMCs) refers to both material and process for producing glass-fiber-reinforced polyester resin items. This article discusses the material components incorporated into the resin paste for desirable processing and molding characteristics and optimum physical and mechanical properties, including catalyst, fillers, thickeners, pigments, thermoplastic polymers, flame retardants, and ultraviolet absorbers. It talks about the mixing techniques available for SMC resin pastes, including batch, batch/continuous, and continuous mixing. The article also outlines the design features and the operations of continuous-belt and beltless machine type SMCs.

No-bake sand molds are based on the curing of inorganic or organic binders with either gaseous catalysts or liquid catalysts. This article reviews the major aspects of no-bake sand bonding in terms of coremaking, molding methods, and sand processing. It discusses the points to be noted in handling sand-resin mixtures for no-bake molds or cones and lists some advantages of no-bake air-set cores and molds. The article describes the process procedures, advantages, and disadvantages of gas curing and air-setting hardening of sodium silicates. It examines the members of the air-setting organic binders, namely, furan no-bake resins, phenolic no-bake resins, and urethanes. The article provides an overview of gas-cured organic binders. It also illustrates the three commercial systems for sand reclamation: wet reclamation systems, dry reclamation systems, and thermal reclamation.

This article provides a discussion on polyester coating applications such as powder coatings, can coatings, and automotive paints. It includes an overview, structure, properties, and benefits of vinyl ester resins. The article discusses the additives for both unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester coatings, namely, curing systems, thixotropic agents and fillers. It exemplifies polyester and vinyl ester coating, lining and flooring systems that are used for top-to-bottom protection of industrial plants and equipment. The article also highlights the concerns to be addressed when using polyesters and vinyl esters.

Sintering atmosphere protects metal parts from the effects of contact with air and provides sufficient conduction and convection for uniform heat transfer to ensure even heating or cooling within various furnace sections, such as preparation, sintering, initial cooling, and final cooling sections. This article provides information on the different zones of these furnace sections. It describes the types of atmospheres used in sintering, namely, endothermic gas, exothermic gas, dissociated ammonia, hydrogen, and vacuum. The article concludes with a discussion on the furnace zoning concept and the problems that arise when these atmospheres are not controlled.

Pack cementation is the most widely employed method of diffusion coating. This article briefly reviews pack cementation processes of aluminizing, chromizing, and siliconizing. It contains tables that list typical characteristics of pack cementation processes and commercial applications of pack cementation aluminizing, which is used to improve the performance of steels in high-temperature corrosive environments.

This article describes the chemistry of phenolic resins and reviews their characteristics and properties for various composites fabrication processes. The fabrication processes include solution/hot-melt process, pultrusion, vacuum infusion, filament winding, sheet molding, and hand lay-up. The article illustrates the manufacturing process of phenolic honeycomb and provides information on the applications of phenolic composites.

This article reviews the basic types of mold aggregates and bonding methods for expendable molds and coremaking. It provides an overview of mold media and the basic types of sands and their properties. The most significant clays used in green sand operations, such as bentonites, are discussed. The article describes the methods of sand bonding with inorganic compounds. It provides a description of resin-bonded sand systems: no-bake binder systems, heat-cured binder systems, and cold box binder systems. The article concludes with a discussion on the media used for expendable molds, namely, ceramic shells and rammed graphite, for casting reactive metals such as titanium or zirconium.

This article discusses the methods for producing powder metallurgy (PM) nickel powders, including carbonyl process, hydrometallurgical process, hydrogen reduction process, and atomization process, as well as their applications. It describes three processes for producing nickel alloy powders: water atomization, high-pressure water atomization, and gas atomization. The article also provides information on the applications of PM hot isostatic pressing in the oil and gas industry.

High-temperature combustion is primarily used to determine carbon and sulfur contained in a variety of materials. This article illustrates the principle of combustion and focuses on the characteristics of accelerators. It provides information on the process of separating oxide compounds formed in the combustion zone. The article provides information on infrared and thermal-conductive detectors, which are used for the detection of CO2 and SO2. Finally, it addresses the requirements of a sample to undergo total and selective combustion, and presents examples showing the applications of high-temperature combustion. .

Precious metals include gold, silver, and six platinum-group metals, namely, platinum, palladium, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, and iridium. This article focuses on the consumption, trade practices, properties, product forms, and applications of these metals and their alloys.

Cyanate ester resins are a family of high-temperature thermosetting resins that bridge the gap in thermal performance between engineering epoxy and high-temperature polyimides. This article discusses the chemistry, properties and characteristics of the cyanate ester resins. It describes the processing procedures for the cyanate ester resins and provides information on properties for selected applications, such as space applications, radomes, and printed circuit boards.

This article provides a detailed discussion on the types of furnace atmospheres required for heat treating. These include generated exothermic-based atmospheres, generated endothermic-based atmospheres, generated exothermic-endothermic-based atmospheres, generated dissociated-ammonia-based atmospheres, industrial gas nitrogen-base atmospheres, argon atmospheres, and hydrogen atmospheres. Atmospheres for backfilling, partial pressure operation, and quenching in vacuum are also discussed. Furnace atmospheres constitute four major groups of safety hazards in heat treating: fire, explosion, toxicity, and asphyxiation. The article reviews the fundamentals of principal gases and vapors. It describes how the evaluation of the atmospheric requirements of heat treating furnaces is influenced by factors such as cost of operation and capital investment.

This article focuses on the selection, properties, and applications of powder metallurgy refractory metals and their alloys, including tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium, and rhenium.

This article describes the ideal performance of various low-temperature and high-temperature fuel cells that depends on the electrochemical reactions that occur between different fuels and oxygen. Low-temperature fuel cells, such as polymer electrolyte, alkaline, and phosphoric acid, and high-temperature fuel cells, such as molten carbonate and solid oxide, are discussed. The article contains tables that provide information on the evolution of cell-component technology for these fuel cells. It concludes with information on the advantages and limitations of the fuel cells.

This article provides background information on the chemistry, coating properties, resin types, applications techniques, and performance characteristics of fluoroethylene vinyl ether (FEVE) resins. It describes the formulation methods of FEVE resins, namely, solvent-based coating formulations, water-based coating formulations, and powder coating formulations. The basic concerns to be addressed when formulating and using FEVE coatings are also discussed. The article concludes with a section on health and related safety regulations.

The technology to fabricate lower-density, porous powdered metal materials provides unique engineering solutions for many applications. This article summarizes the characteristics and applications of porous powder metallurgy technology, as well as the fabrication methods employed.

Molding compounds are plastic materials in varying stages of pellets or granulation that consist of resin, filler, pigments, reinforcement, plasticizers, and other ingredients ready for use in a molding operation. This article describes the material components and physical properties of sheet molding compounds (SMC). The three types of resin paste mixing techniques, such as batch, batch/continuous, and continuous, for an SMC operation are reviewed. The article discusses the design features and functional operations of the two types of SMC machines, namely, continuous-belt and beltless machines. It explains the formulation and processing of bulk molding compounds and reviews molding methods for bulk molding compounds, including compression, transfer, and injection molding. The effects of the fiber type and length and the matrix type on thermoset bulk molding compounds are discussed. It describes the four injection molding processes of injection molding compounds such as feeding, transporting, injecting, and flowing.

Aggregate molding, or sand casting, is the gravity pouring of liquid metal into a mold that is made of a mixture molded against a permanent pattern. This article summarizes the most important materials in the process of sand casting of cast iron, including different types of molding aggregates, clays, water, and additives in green sand, chemically bonded organic resins, and inorganic binders in self-setting, thermosetting, and gas-triggered systems. It discusses three main types of reclamation systems: wet, dry, and thermal. The article concludes with a description of both nonpermanent and permanent mold processes.

This article briefly reviews the production methods and characteristics of plain carbon and low-alloy water-atomized iron and steel powders, high-porosity iron powder, carbonyl iron powder, and electrolytic iron powder. It emphasizes on atomized powders, because they are the most widely used materials for ferrous powder metallurgy. The article provides information on the properties and applications of these powders. It also includes an overview of diffusion alloying, basics of admixing, and bonded premixes.