Theory
The science is not particularly well understood. It has been known for years that silica sols (also known as colloidal silica, silicic acid, polysilicic acid) will gel when exposed to temperatures around 0°C (32°F). The theoretical mechanism is quite simple:
Colloidal silica is produced by the polymerisation of monosilicic acid, Si(OH)4, until the chains of polysilicic acid become so long they form silica particles with hydroxylated surfaces. On freezing of the sol, the silica particles are rejected away from the solidifying interface and forced into the interstices between the ice crystals. Here, they come into contact with each other, and link via the condensation of their surface hydroxyl groups into siloxane bonds. This, happening throughout the sol, forms a gel.
In a filled sol, the ceramic powder is trapped within the gel, and forms a monolith.
Read more about this topic: Freeze Casting
Famous quotes containing the word theory:
“The weakness of the man who, when his theory works out into a flagrant contradiction of the facts, concludes “So much the worse for the facts: let them be altered,” instead of “So much the worse for my theory.””
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“It is not enough for theory to describe and analyse, it must itself be an event in the universe it describes. In order to do this theory must partake of and become the acceleration of this logic. It must tear itself from all referents and take pride only in the future. Theory must operate on time at the cost of a deliberate distortion of present reality.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“The great tragedy of science—the slaying of a beautiful theory by an ugly fact.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)