Electrostatically Design of Composite Particles for Efficient Ceramics Sintering

Ceramics materials are widely used in various fields due to their exceptional properties, such as heat resistance, chemical stability, and good mechanical properties. For the development of advanced ceramics, the demand for sophisticated ceramics structures with desired properties has been increasing. Additive manufacturing is deemed as a rapid moldless, prototyping manufacturing method that enables the fabrication of complicated ceramic components. However, after the shapeforming process, subsequent sintering process is important to obtain a rather dense sintered structure exhibiting desired properties, and preferably at a lower sintering temperature to reduce the load on the environment. In this study, the electrostatic assembly method was used to achieve a controlled formation of alumina-alumina ceramic composite particles, exhibiting a homogeneous distribution of additive particles on core particles. This enabled an improved sintering process leading to the formation of void-free and denser microstructure using the electrostatically assembled composite particles that exhibited better packing density compared to those of mechanically mixed powder. Enhancing the green body sintering using ceramic composite particles could be beneficial in ceramic materials development.