Che5700

Casting Techniques
Slip casting (e.g. drain casting, solid casting), tape
casting, gel casting, centrifugal casting, etc
Prepare proper slurry (proper viscosity), fill into mold
or direct forming, dehydration (or solvent), de-molding,
drying, sintering, post-fabrication, product
Can be used to get complex shape products
Uniformity of slurry: very important
Dispersion of slurry: can be judged by sediment height
(an index)
anisometric particles, easy to show preferred direction,
e.g. plate particle, tend to be parallel to casting surface

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Schematics of Slip Casting

Drain casting: dilute solution (5%), porous mole,
particle adsorb on mold wall, form thin layer, pour extra
solution, de-molding and other processing
Rate of dehydration affect particle packing

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Mechanism of Slip Casting

Flow resistance: mold and cake
Darcy law applied to get relationship between
pressure drop and velocity; usually mold resistance
greater than cake resistance
PT = applied pressure + suction pressure from mold
Filtration theory: sample thickness and time relation

PT
( c m )vo
L

kPT
L [
]t
( c m )(1 )
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Viscosity of Slurry
viscosity too high or
low: not ideal
Also slurry may have
yield strength
Good stability for
storage life

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Schematics of Solid Casting

Solid casting:
concentrated
slurry pour into
mold,
dehydration,
de-molding
and other
processing;

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Strength of Product
Product strength
increase gradually
Due to increasing
density, strength
comes from
interaction between
particles, with help
from binder

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Filter Pressing
In general: slip casting rely on
capillary action to remove water,
filter pressing: from applied
pressure, can reach higher density
Cake may be compressible: S =
compressibility index
another possibility: vacuum
filtering

c P

S
T
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Sedimentation
Casting/Centrifugal Casting
Different casting process
Sedimentation: slower rate; add centrifuge to
increase rate of sendimentation

Well dispersed suspension, very slow sendimentation,

can reach higher density; different particle size,
different rate different effect, i.e. may be size
distribution inside the cake (sediment) to product,
poor effect always differential shrinkage
Centrifugal casting: suitable for tube making; r2 for
g as the acting force
8

TA Ring, 1996

TA Ring,
1996;

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Porous Mold Materials

Gypsum: frequently used; plaster of Paris CaSO4. .5H2O +
H2O gypsum CaSO4. 2H2O
Todays technology: good smooth surface, high ultimate
porosity, micron-sized pores, short setting time, small
dimensional expansion on setting (for easy release), low
cost
Often use hot water to get uniform mold
Porosity: depending on mixing, electrolyte in water, T etc.
parameters
Limitations : low compressive strength when partially
saturated with water erosion; when in contact with acid
or alcohol, gypsum life becomes shorter
New generations of polymer mold, with similar pore
structure, high strength, corrosion resistant
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when making mold, too much water, low strength, greater

adsorption
Taken from JS Reed, 1995; when mold drying, avoid too
high temperature, will cause dehydration
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Che5700

Dip Coating
Pull at an angle and
speed to get coating;
film thickness depend
on slurry rheology; for
Newtonian fluid

xy
y

g sin

hmax

U
g sin
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Particle Orientation
Taken from TA
Ring, 1996;
Dip coating:
shear force
may cause
special
arrangement
of particles to
minimize
resistance

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Problems of Slip Casting

Implies optimized viscosity and gelation by proper

additives; slurry rheology, casting rate, cast property, drying
15
and burn-out rate = balance of these parameters

Taken from JS Reed, 1995; case A, range of good cast

is wider and favorable; S = soft; H = hard;
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Che5700

Gel Casting
Refer to cases where binder (monomer) can polymerize,
make system a gel; fill in a mold (of complex shape)
stimulate reaction to gelation de-mold thermal
treatment to product
Can be used for dense product or porous product, former
case: concentrated slurry to get high density packing
Linear shrinkage is about 0.5 1.5%
Volume of binding phase/volume of particles ~ 16%
Mold not necessary porous material, can be made of a
variety of materials
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Control of Defects in Cast

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Discussions on Defects
Non-uniformity in wall thickness: due to non-uniformity
from mold, non-uniformity in water adsorption or casting
rate; or erosion non-uniformity in mold etc.
distortion: come from stress in green body, or differential
shrinkage during drying, e.g. warping
crack: difference in adhesion between object and mold wall,
differential volumetric shrinkage, especially at joint; or very
large agglomerates
void: could be due to trapped air
Bubbles and pin-holes: comes from during pouring; pin-hole
on the surface may come from removing excess slurry
Surface irregularity: come from irregularity on mold surface,
water adsorption non-uniformity, during pouring of high
viscosity slip etc.
Microscopic defects: incomplete dispersion, contamination,
unadsorbed additive; etc.
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Che5700

Tape Casting

Or called doctor blade method; often used to fabricate

thin, plate-like products, such as substrate
High productivity, if continuous process, green tape first,
then cut into appropriate sizes; can be multilayer
laminated products
Appropriate viscosity is of vital importance
In general, particle size around 1 m, or specific surface
area of 2 5 m2/g
An-isometric particles may align preferentially during
casting, to form special structure;
Tapes of Tyflon, Mylar are often used as carrier, may be
coated with de-molding compound () for easy
removal
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Common tape casting equipment; from JS Reed, 1995

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Doctor Blade

dp / dx ( gL Papplied ) / W

d xy
dy

Belt moving velocity + pressure gradient effect of

motion
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MLCC= multilayer ceramic capacitor

LTCC = low temperature co-fired ceramics

Taken
from TA
Ring,
1996
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Slurry Compositions

Change to water system: a common trend for

environmental reasons; need to overcome drying-shrinkage
problem
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Additives

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Quantity Effects

Too much lubricant,

lower tensile
strength; increase
strain-to-failure

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Binder Quantity
Tape casting: Vb/Vp ~ 15
25%
high MW binder, can offer
higher strength and
toughness green body, not
moving during drying
(migration with solvent)
Yet binder has to be
removed during calcination

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Che5700

Tape Thickness
Pressure flow under the blade + planar laminar flow
by the carrier
Thickness = f(height under blade, speed of carrier,
drying shrinkage, viscosity of slurry)
Dr = (density of slurry)/(density of as-dried tape);ho
cast thickness at the blade; L = length of tape

Drying stage: shrinkage mostly in the thickness; not

much in the lateral direction thus use Dr

H ADr ho [1 h P /(6 s vL)]

2
o

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Uniformity Issue
High rate and high
viscosity, beneficial
to product uniformity
Industrial scale: 25
m long, several
meters wide, 1500
mm/min speed, tape
thickness: 25-1250
m are common;

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Che5700

Drying
Drying rate ~ temperature and solvent content of the
drying air; initial: solvent evaporation, drying rate about
constant

Capillary force to transport liquid inside green body:

mechanism during rate decreasing region
Shrinkage occurs: particle closer to each other
Binder often not moving, lubricant can move
Last item: vapor transport may be rate determining
step, tape becomes more elastic
Final density ~ 55-60% of TD; 35% organics, 15%
porosity
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Shaping and Laminating

Individual steps: scale become smaller and smaller;
0402; 0201, etc.

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Binder Burnout
Need certain gas
permeability to allow
organics to burn out
and vented;
Bond strength
between layers:
important issue
during burnout stage;
Strength related to
pressure during
forming,
temperature and
time
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Che5700

Defects

Agglomerate inhibit sintering in that region; differential

shrinkage lead to crack; bubbles & poor surface cause
poor contact between layers
Difference between metal line and neighboring ceramics;
gas pressure from binder burnout may cause problem
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Che5700

Effects of Some Parameters

Effects
bubble skinning
More solvent
decrease NA
Higher temperature decrease increase
Increase solvent
evaporation rate
NA
increase
Faster pouring
rate
NA
NA
Air rate up
NA
NA
Inorganic
NA
lower

crack
may increase
NA
increase
NA
increase
NA

Ideal slip: high solid content, low viscosity, solvent not

causing skinning and trap air bubble, drying system can
remove gas and rapid drying
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JS Reed, 1995;
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