Finding Flaws in Medical Implants

Cracks in ceramic capacitors, devices that store electric charge in electronic circuits, can cause damage to such disparate objects as medical implants and spacecraft. The cracks, which are often hidden initially, can start conducting electricity, depleting batteries, or shorting out electronics. Detecting these cracks in capacitors before they evolve into electrically conducting pathways and cause failures is something that researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), along with collaborators from the University of Maryland, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and Colorado State University have spent years investigating.