Porous Ceramics by Photopolymerization with Terpene-Acrylate Vehicles

A novel terpene–acrylate photopolymerizable vehicle was used to fabricate porous polymer‐ceramic composites and sintered porous ceramics. The vehicle consists of camphene, camphor and a diacrylate monomer. Alumina or silica suspensions were mixed above the melting point of the terpene. Upon cooling, the terpene crystallized from the solution as particle‐free dendrites, with the powder and liquid monomer in the interdendritic spaces. The monomer could subsequently be solidified by photopolymerization. The rheological behavior is reported for ceramic suspensions in the molten terpene–monomer solution. The photopolymerization cure depth versus energy dose is reported for silica and alumina systems. The microstructure of the porous solid is characterized for systems with camphor/camphene and menthol as terpene. The structure of the dendritic porosity is compared as a function of powder volume fraction, for particles smaller or larger than the dendrite arm spacing.