ENGINEERING OF CERAMIC MICROSTRUCTURES FOR FUNCTIONALITY

摘要

Properties and performances of inorganic materials, especially those of glass and ceramics, are essentially a cooperative phenomenon established by the microstructure. In traditional formation of these materials by high temperature thermal processes, thermodynamics (i.e. time, temperature) plays the determining role of the microstructure. On the other hand, in "sol-gel" process inorganic substructures are arranged by chemical forces operating near room temperatures. This fact allows significant non-compositional modification of the ultrastructure leading to formation of stable non-equilibrium materials with unusual properties. In this presentation, some of the methods to achieve such modifications and their technological significance are discussed.