Novel Synthesis and Processing of Ceramics PDF

Foreword

This meeting was organised on behalf of. the Ceramic Science Committee of the Ceramic Industry Division of the Institute of Materials to draw together papers on various aspects of novel production and processing techniques for ceramics. Such a meeting was extremely topical because of the ever-growing interest in ·advanced processing techniques for ceramic materials, particularly as the need for, and use of, such processes is now established by both industry and academe. From the submitted abstracts, from an international collection of authors, papers were selected and arranged into groups for presentation in sessions which considered related general themes. Thus, session one of the meeting considered novel production processes using electrochemical routes and aqueous and alkoxide precursors, whilst session two continued the general theme but involved unusual applications such as sol-gels for ceramic stains, the manufacture of sialon membrane filters and the production of nano-sized materials from aerogels.

The following sessions on the first day of the meeting were arranged to consider both wet and vapour processed zirconia powders before moving to a selection of papers on the general theme of magnetic and electronic ceramics. In this latter section the citrate gel processing of low-loss magnesia-based ferrites and the synthesis of thin layers of tantalates and titanates by sol-gel methods and flame-assisted deposition gave a good overview of recent developments across this exciting range of commercially important ceramics. The next sessions were arranged to consider developments in structural ceramics and concentrated on the synthesis and processing of alumina for a range of different applications before moving to the final group of papers which considered the production and evaluation of ceramic matrix composites of both the micron and nano-scale scales. The range of materials covered extended from AIN-superalloy composites, to in-situ reaction sintered alumina matrix, silicon nitride matrix and sialon matrix composites and on to highly porous SiC materials. Morphological changes involved in the calcination of oxide-coated nano-sized silicon nitride were considered in relation to the processing of such powders.

The meeting was well attended and the discussions that took place confirmed the great interest in novel processing. The breadth of processing techniques, ceramic materials and applications that were covered ensured that a good interaction of workers in a wide range of ceramic activities took place.

This proceedings is evidence of the high quality of papers that were presented by a truly international set of authors. Thanks must be given to Mrs Monica Judd for her help in organising the meeting and to Mr Peter Danckwerts of the Institute of Materials for the rapid production of these proceedings.

Edited by: F.R. Sale