Ceramics Characteristic distance

The differences in thermal expansion coefficients of the individual phases and also their anisotropies result in non-uniform shrinkage on cooling. Tf this non-uniform shrinkage cannot be met by deformation, stresses arise restricted to short distances (microstresse.s). This phenomenon is characteristic for ceramics and influences their mechanical properties. High tensile stresses may even result in the formation of ciacks visible under the microscope, for example iji fireclay or porcelain. These cracks arc usually situated at phase boundaries. 

This Figure shows that whilst ceramics are useful for heat transfer, they have poor speed propagation This result may seem odd, since silicon is the base for present IC s, but in practice the poor propagation speed is counterbalanced by the very short distances that the signal has to travel on the chip. Polymers have much better speed characteristics, and this is why there is development going on to combine ceramics with polymers such as polyimide. 

In conventional membrane emulsification, droplets are formed at the membrane surface and detached from it by wall shear stress of the continuous phase (Figure 20.8, middle) [29,45,46]. In addition to tubular membranes made from ceramics such as aluminum oxide, special porous glasses such as SPG (Shiratsu Porous Class) membranes and polymers such as polypropylene (29, 47, 48], flat filter membranes made of PTFE [49, 50], nylon [51] and silicon (30, 51-55] have been used in emulsification. Silicon membranes are produced by microengineering techniques. This technology offers the possibility to influence precisely the structure of a membrane (arrangement of pores, pore shape, size and distance, porosity, surface characteristics, as shown in Figure 20.7). Very thin active layers reduce the pressure drop without losing mechanical stability. 

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