Suppressing Crack Formation in Particulate Systems by Utilizing Capillary Forces

Cracks, formed during the drying of particulate films, can reduce the effectiveness or even render products useless. We present a novel, generic approach to suppress crack formation in thin films made from hard particle suspensions, which are otherwise highly susceptible to cracking, using the capillary force between particles present when a trace amount of an immiscible liquid is added to a suspension. This secondary liq- uid preserves the particle cohesion, modifying the structure and increasing the drying rate. Crack-free films can be produced at thicknesses much greater than the critical cracking thickness for a suspension without capillary interactions, and even persists after sintering. This capillary suspension strategy is applicable to a broad range of ma- terials including suspensions of metals, semi-conductive and ceramic oxides or glassy polymeric particles and can be easily implemented in many industrial processes since it is based on well-established unit operations. Promising fields of application include ceramic foils and printed electronic devices.

Jaar van publicatie:2017

BOF-keylabel:ja

IOF-keylabel:ja

BOF-publication weight:6

CSS-citation score:2

Auteurs:International

Authors from:Higher Education

Toegankelijkheid:Open