Gelcasting is a process for forming inorganic powders into complex shapes. It was originally developed for ceramic powders. A slurry of powder and a monomer solution is poured in to a mold and polymerized in-situ to form gelled parts. Typically, only 2-4 wt % polymer is used. The process has both aqueous and nonaqueous versions. Gelcasting is a generic process and has been used to produce ceramic parts from over a dozen different ceramic compositions ranging from alumina-based refractories to high-performance silicon nitride. Recently, gelcasting has been applied to forming H13 tool steel powders. Blanks of H13 were cast, green machined into complex shape, and fired. Issues associated with forming, binder burnout, and sintering are addressed.
展开▼
