NRL Materials Scientist Edward Gorzkowski Named American Ceramic Society Fellow

WASHINGTON  –   U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researcher Edward Gorzkowski, Ph.D., to be recognized as Fellow to the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) for outstanding contributions to the ceramic sciences by conspicuous achievement in the ceramic industry during the upcoming American Ceramics Society Awards Banquet held in Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct. 7, 2024.

ACerS is a professional society that serves the scientific and technological needs of the global ceramic and glass community.
 
“Being named as a Fellow of the American Ceramics Society is a great honor that extends not just to me but to all of the team members I have worked with over the years to advance critical technologies impacting the Navy and the Department of Defense (DOD),” said Gorzkowski, NRL Multifunctional Materials Branch Head. “I am humbled to be recognized by my peers and will continue my service to the American Ceramics Society and continue to pursue revolutionary materials to help the war fighter.”

Renowned for his leading work on nanocrystalline ceramics with his collaborators at NRL, Gorzkowski’s research includes confirmation of a limit to the Hall-Petch effect in ceramics, for example, that there is a critical grain size, below, which further hardening and strengthening is no longer observed.

“This accomplishment was aided by the invention of novel processing techniques developed through a collaboration between the Materials Science Division and the Electronics Science and Technology Division,” Gorzkowski said. “Through meticulous mechanical and structural characterization, the researchers were able to identify that the mechanism for this behavior was structural changes in the nanocrystalline microstructure, such as increasing triple junction volume fraction.”

At the smallest grain sizes, it was unexpectedly revealed that nanocrystalline ceramics have a region where hardness and strength remain constant as grain size changes further. This plateau region in ceramics is a markedly different behavior than nanocrystalline metals, which have strength and hardness that precipitously drop below the Hall-Petch limit, providing a larger design window for application of nanocrystalline ceramics. Remarkably, the results included creating a fully dense bulk ceramic with a world record smallest grain size of 3.6 nm.

“Dr. Gorzkowski’s technical expertise and leadership capabilities resulted in NRL achieving this world record,” said NRL Materials Science and Technology Division Superintendent Dr. Virginia G. DeGiorgi. “This achievement has opened up multiple new applications for nanocrystalline ceramics, establishing NRL and the U.S. Navy as the leaders in this exciting, expanding field of research. Gorzkowski’s abilities are not limited to his technical accomplishments, but also to a culture of innovation and success he has demonstrated and the many technical achievements of his team.”

He has played a leadership role in the Electronic Division of ACerS, having served on the Executive Board since 2022. He is also a past chair of the Ceramic Education Council and past President of the Young Professionals Network from 2013-2015. “Gorzkowski’s research has impacted several varied areas of ceramic research,” DeGiorgi said.
 
Several of Gorzkowski’s patents are related to converting various agricultural waste such as rice husks, nut shells, corn husk, and wheat husk into high value materials via inexpensive processing. This processing both helps the environment and results in an affordable method to make these needed materials by utilizing waste materials that are typically incinerated, releasing carbon dioxide and silicon nano-particles into the atmosphere. Three of these patents have been licensed by a company using silicon carbon nanowires to create reinforced concrete. This concrete shows improved lifetime in bridges and in salt water environments.

Gorzkowski joined NRL as a National Research Council postdoctoral Fellow in 2004, and has been promoted rapidly through the ranks currently heading the Multifunctional Materials Branch. His professional activities have greatly enhanced the visibility and reputation of the Society. He has organized several symposia at the Materials Science and Technology and Electronic Materials and Applications Conferences and served as session chair on numerous occasions.
 
Gorzkowski led NRL in planning, procurement, and setting up a lab to measure the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of ceramic, polymer, and composite materials for the US Navy. This lab has become the primary source for independent verification of new materials for the Office of Naval Research and the pulse power materials programs.
 
He has also made important contributions in the area of electronic ceramics, and his paper on the defect mechanisms in ceramics deservedly received the ACerS Best Paper Award in 2018.
“Dr. Gorzkowski has been tireless in his support of inclusion in our profession,” said Helen M. Chen, Ph.D., Lehigh University, “Through programs such as Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation, also known as SMART, funded by the Department of Defense, his group has mentored numerous students in summer programs at NRL.”

Until 2020, Gorzkowski was active with Tau Beta Pi since his student days, and participated in STEM outreach through their MindSET program. This program is designed to interest K-12 students in careers in the STEM disciplines, and focuses on using hands-on learning techniques to help them understand math and science concepts, and to see how they can be applied in the real world.
 

The Materials Science and Technology Division conducts basic and applied research and engages in exploratory and advanced development of materials technology having substantive value to the Navy. The programs encompass the fabrication of naval structures and devices from these materials, as well as the effects of projected military service environment on the performance and reliability of these materials. 

About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.
 
For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@us.navy.mil.  Please reference package number at top of press release.