High-gravity combustion synthesis: A fast and furnace-free way for preparing bulk ceramic materials

This article makes a brief review on high-gravity combustion synthesis as a novel technique to prepare bulk ceramic materials. This technique combines strong exothermic combustion reactions with a high-gravity field, and provides an efficient way for rapid production of ceramic materials. In high-gravity combustion synthesis, ceramic materials are produced via melt solidification instead of conventional powder sintering. High-gravity combustion synthesis can be carried out by two modes of melt-casting and melt-infiltration. Melt-casting is usually used to produce bulk ceramics and glasses, and melt-infiltration is used to prepare cermets. By high-gravity combustion synthesis, a large variety of ceramic materials have been prepared, including single-phase ceramics, eutectic ceramics, glasses, glass-ceramics, and cermets. In contrast to powder sintering, high-gravity combustion synthesis offers a furnace-free way to produce ceramic materials with reduced processing time and lower energy consumption.