Freeze Casting

Freeze casting, also known as freeze-gelation, is a form of sol-gel processing of ceramics that enables a ceramic object to be fabricated in complex shapes, without the need for high-temperature sintering.

The process is simple, but the science is, as of 2005, not well understood. The most common process involves the mixing of a silica solution with a filler powder. For example, if we were making a component out of alumina, aluminium oxide, then we would still use a silica sol, but alumina filler powder. The relative amounts used differ, normally between 3 and 4 times more filler than sol is added by weight.

A wetting agent is added, such that the filler powder disperses properly in the sol, which is mostly water. This makes the mixture doughy and stiff. The mixture is, however, highly thixotropic, so that when vibrated it turns liquid. The stiff dough is placed in a mold and the mold vibrated to liquefy the mixture, filling the mold and releasing any trapped air.

The filled mold is then frozen. On freezing, silica precipitates from the sol, forming a gel. This gel holds the filler powder together in something approximating a sintering greenform. The component is then dried in a furnace, leaving the component.

The advantages of freeze-casting over sintering are essentially cost-based. It doesn't require high pressure equipment or powerful furnaces (drying temperatures are only just above water's boiling point), yet it creates a useful product which takes the shape of the mold very accurately.