Fabrication of complicated silicon carbide ceramic components by acrylate gel-casting

Solid-state sintered silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics with respectable performance were successfully prepared with a gel casting method. Only acrylic resins were used as dispersants to form a thermally gellable SiC ceramic slurry with reasonable solid load of 45 vol%. The effect of the dispersants and solid load on the stability and rheological behaviour of the SiC suspensions has been systematically discussed. It has been established that the sintering performance, microstructure and mechanical properties of SiC ceramics are significantly affected by the rheology behaviour of the SiC suspensions. Finally, sintered samples with a relative density of 95.16% (3.05 g/cm(3)) and a flexural strength of 377.4 MPa were achieved with the gel casting method.

Automated summary

Solid-state sintered silicon carbide ceramics with respectable performance were successfully prepared using a gel casting method. The rheology behavior of the SiC suspensions significantly affects the sintering performance, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the ceramics, and optimizing the solid load and dispersants can improve the sintering performance of the ceramics.