Ceramic powders suspensions

Either a mixture of soluble salts containing the desired ratio of metal ions is dissolved in a solvent or a ceramic powder suspension is made. 

Binders in Ceramics, Powder Metallurgy, and Water-Based Coatings of Fluorescent Lamps. In coatings and ceramics appHcations, the suspension rheology needs to be modified to obtain a uniform dispersion of fine particles in the finished product. When PEO is used as a binder in aqueous suspensions, it is possible to remove PEO completely in less than 5 min by baking at temperatures of 400°C. This property has been successfully commercialized in several ceramic appHcations, in powder metallurgy, and in water-based coatings of fluorescent lamps (164—168). 

Both wet-ceramic techniques and direct-deposition techniques require preparation of the feedstock, which can consist of dry powders, suspensions of powders in liquid, or solution precursors for the desired phases, such as nitrates of the cations from which the oxides are formed. Section 6.1.3 presented some processing methods utilized to prepare the powder precursors for use in SOFC fabrication. The component fabrication methods are presented here. An overview of the major wet-ceramic and direct-deposition techniques utilized to deposit the thinner fuel cell components onto the thicker structural support layer are presented below. 

In the slip-casting process the ceramic powder is suspended in a fluid vehicle, usually water. The suspension, or slip , has a high solids content, typically 50vol.%, and the individual particles are fine, usually less than 10 /mi. Deflocculants, which modify the electrical environment of each particle so that they repel one another, are added to the slip. The fineness of the powder and consequent high surface area ensure that electrostatic forces dominate gravity forces so that settling does not occur. When exceptionally heavy powder particles... 

The process itself is more art than science. There is hardly any information in the open scientific literature. Most publications have to do with spray drying of ceramic powders (ref. 15 and references therein, ref. 16). There are also some standard books about spray drying [17]. Important process parameters are the viscosity of the liquid, the solids content of the suspension, the film-forming characteristics, the type of atomizer, the temperature, the rotation speed of the wheel, gas velocity, etc. 

In this chapter, we have described the colloid chemistiy of ceramic powders in suspension. Colloid stability is manipulated by electrostatic and steric means. The ramifications on processing have been discussed with emphasis on single-phase ceramic suspensions with a distribution of particle sizes and composites and their problems of component segregation due to density and particle size and shape. The next chapter will discuss the rheology of Uie ceramic suspensions and the mechanical behavior of dry ceramic powders to prepare the ground for ceramic green body formation. The rheology of ceramic suspensions depends on their colloidal properties. 

In Chapter 12 of this book, the mechanical properties of ceramic suspensions, pastes, and diy ceramic powders are discussed. Ceramic suspension rheology is dependent on the viscosity of the solvent with polymeric additives, particle volume fraction, particle size distribution, particle morphology, and interparticle interaction energy. The interparticle forces play a veiy important role in determining the colloidal stability of the suspension. If a suspension... 

Mechanical Properties of Dry Ceramic Powders and Wet Ceramic Suspensions... 

Considering a mass of ceramic powder about to be molded or pressed into shape, the forces necessary and the speeds possible are determined by mechanical properties of the diy powder, paste, or suspension. For any material, the elastic moduli for tension (Young s modulus), shear, and bulk compression are the mechanical properties of interest. These mechanical properties are schematically shown in Figure 12.1 with their defining equations. These moduli are mechanical characteristics of elastic materials in general and are applicable at relatively low applied forces for ceramic powders. At higher applied forces, nonlinear behavior results, comprising the flow of the ceramic powder particles over one another, plastic deformation of the particles, and rupture of... 

Oc is the geometric constant for the shape of the ceramic particles and [1 + (Lg/a f] is the volume fraction correction for the adsorbed layer on the ceramic particles. Again, this equation is only good for colloidally stable suspensions. Fleer et al. [19] verified this equation for cubic particles with polytvinyl alcohol) adsorbed at the surface. For polymer solution concentrations (i.e., p) that give essentially monolayer coverage of the particle surface, the value of [1 + (LJaf] is nearly constant for a wide range of ceramic powder concentrations (Le., d>c)-... 

In this chapter, we described the fundamentals of suspension iheol-ogy from dilute suspensions to concentrated suspensions. Attention has been paid to interparticle forces and the structure of the suspension because these things drastically influence suspension iheology. In addition, visco-elastic properties of concentrated suspensions including ceramic pastes have been discussed. Finally, the mechanical properties of dry ceramic powders have been discussed in terms of the dJoulomb yield criterion, which gives the stress necessary for flow (or deformation) of the powder. These mechanical prc rties will be used in the next chapter to predict the ease with vdiich dry powders, pastes, and suspensions can be made into green bodies by various techniques. 

The process of making a complex shape (such as a turbochaiger blade or a combustion chamber, both shown in Figure 13.1) from a diy ceramic powder, a suspension, or a paste is a problem when one consid ... 

A ceramic suspension consists of ceramic powder, a solvent, often a dispersant to stabilize the ceramic powder ag2iinst a omeration, a polymeric binder to provide green strength after the green body has been dried, and often a plasticizer to lower the glass transition of the polymeric binder. All these additives must be compatible so the ceramic suspension has the desirable properties needed for green body fabrication. Many of these formulations used in industry are very secretive. 

In some cases, an extrudable and injectable paste may consist of 65% vol. ceramic powder and 35% vol. polymeric binder. In others, an extrudable paste may consist of a highly loaded aqueous suspension of clay particles such that its rheology is plastic. Hie low shear (i.e., <100 sec ) viscosity of such a paste is between 2000 and 5000 poise at ambient temperature. Highly nonlinear stress strain curves are typical of ceramic pastes, as well as time dependent thixotropy. In many cases, pastes behave like visco-elastic fluids. This complex rheological behavior of ceramic pastes has made theoretical approadies to these problems difficult. For this reason, the discussion in this chapter is limited to Newtonian fluids where analytical solutions are possible, with obvious consequences as to accuracy of these equations for non-Newtonian ceramic pastes. 

Simon C (1993). In Stabilization of Aqueous Powder Suspensions in the Processing of Ceramic Materials, Dobais B (ed), Marcel Dekker, New York. 

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