Bio-prototyping and thermoluminescence response of cellular rare earth ceramics

The use of renewable materials is essential toward green economy. Vegetable structures are abundant, exhibit complex hierarchically built shape and an architecture that is promising to form functional materials. In this work using a mixture of rare earth oxides, which contain around 57 wt% yttrium oxide, cellular ceramics by bio-prototyping from the vegetable sponge Luffa cylindrica were produced and the thermoluminescence response was evaluated. By colloidal processing aqueous suspensions with 25 vol% solids content, pH 10, 1 wt% deffloculant and 0.2 wt% binder exhibited shear thinning behavior and apparent viscosity suitable for replica method. By thermal treatment at 1600 °C for 2 h in air biomorphic rare earth ceramics with dense microstructure and reticulated architecture were produced.