Fabrication and characterisation of cellular alumina articles produced via radiation curable dispersions

A general and versatile method for the production of cellular materials from radiation curable solvent-free colloidal ceramic dispersions containing pore formers has been developed. By this technique cellular ceramic articles with a precisely controlled porosity, cell size and shape are obtained for compositions containing solid pore formers. Monolithic bulk samples are obtained by thermal curing, whereas thin films and multi-layered articles are advantageously produced by UV curing. In this work the influence of three different spherical pore former types, PE, PS and PMMA, on the processing and final properties of the porous materials using alumina as model material is studied. The effect of pore former type and concentration on rheology, curing behaviour, debinding and sintering steps as well as thermal conductivity and mechanical strength of the sintered cellular materials is presented. It is also shown that the choice of pore former type modifies the sintering behaviour and resulting properties.