Gelcasting of aqueous mesocarbon microbead suspension

Gelcasting, an in situ consolidation colloid forming process, is promising for the manufacture of structural ceramics with various shapes. In this case, the gelcasting process was adopted to obtain carbon artifacts with complex shapes. The mesocarbon microbead (MCMB) that has self-sintering property was chosen as the starting material. In order to optimize the MCMB suspensions for gel-casting the zeta potentials of MCMB particles dispersing in water and the rheological behaviors of MCMB suspensions were investigated. A stable MCMB suspension with solid loading up to 62.5 wt.% was prepared, from which uniform green body with complex shape was successfully gelcast. The performance of green bodies and sintered samples were measured and their microstructures were observed. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.