Aerosol deposition of ceramic thick films at room temperature: Densification mechanism of ceramic layers

A novel method for depositing ceramic thick films by aerosol deposition (AD) is presented. Submicron ceramics particles are accelerated by gas flow up to 100-500 m/s and then impacted on a substrate, to form a dense, uniform and hard ceramic layer at room temperature. However, actual deposition mechanism has not been clarified yet. To clarify densification mechanism during AD, a mixed aerosol of alpha-Al2O3 and Pb(Zr, Ti)O-3 powder was deposited to form a composite layer in this study. The cross-section of the layer was observed by HR-TEM to investigate the densification and bonding mechanism of ceramic particles. As a result, a plastic deformation of starting ceramic particles at room temperature was observed.