Rheological characterization and shape control in gel-casting of nano-sized zirconia powders

In this study, a water soluble resin based gel system was developed incorporating nano-sized zirconia powders. The effects of the resin content and the solid loading on the rheological properties, density, mechanical properties and shape control have been investigated. All the slurries show typical shear-thinning behaviour. Higher resin-content leads to higher viscosity and larger green density. The density of the green component obtained from a slurry with 30 wt% resin can reach 2.85 g/cm3 (nearly 50% of the theoretical density). However, when the resin content is beyond 25 wt%, the sintered density decreased. Higher density, solid-loading and applying external force are helpful to improve the shape control.