The Metal–Ceramic Interface Laboratory includes several systems for producing polycrystalline ceramics, including ball milling, uniaxial pressing, slip-casting, CIP, drying furnaces, and high-temperature sintering furnaces, most of which operate in air. The laboratory also has facilities for high-temperature sintering under protective atmospheres (Ar, He), as well as an ultra-high-vacuum furnace, which is currently used for UHS experiments. Specialized tube furnaces for dewetting thin metallic films on ceramic substrates also exist, including one system where the tube is made of sapphire, and the partial pressure of oxygen can be measured and controlled down to ~10-21 atm.
