In the field of ceramic forming and manufacturing, mainstream processes such as tape casting, injection molding, and 3D printing place stringent demands on the performance of ceramic slurries. Among these, a high solids content (>50%) is a core prerequisite for achieving efficient production and improving product quality. High-solids-content ceramic slurries can effectively reduce shrinkage and deformation during drying and sintering, lowering the risk of finished product cracking and excessive porosity. Simultaneously, they significantly shorten the forming cycle, improve production efficiency, and meet the needs of large-scale manufacturing of precision ceramic components, becoming a key direction for upgrading ceramic forming processes.
However, the preparation of high-solids-content ceramic slurries has long faced technical bottlenecks. With increasing solids content, the concentration of ceramic particles increases significantly, and particles are prone to agglomeration due to van der Waals forces, forming a dense network structure. This leads to a sharp increase in slurry viscosity and decreased fluidity. This problem not only causes uneven slurry dispersion, affecting the flatness of cast films and the integrity of injection molding, but also leads to nozzle clogging and poor interlayer bonding during 3D printing, ultimately reducing the dimensional accuracy of parts and hindering the widespread application of high-solids content slurries in various molding processes.
The emergence of ultrasonic dispersion technology provides an efficient solution to overcome this bottleneck, achieving a leapfrog improvement in the performance of high-solids content ceramic slurries. Its core principle is to utilize the shear force generated by high-frequency vibration to penetrate the interior of high-viscosity slurries, effectively breaking down the agglomeration structure between ceramic particles, reshaping the dispersion network between particles, and uniformly dispersing the agglomerated particles in the medium, fundamentally improving the rheological properties of the slurry.
Compared to traditional dispersion methods, ultrasonic dispersion has advantages such as strong penetration, uniform dispersion, and no secondary agglomeration, significantly reducing slurry viscosity while maintaining high solids content. Practical data shows that for Al₂O₃ ceramic slurries with a solid content of 60%, ultrasonic dispersion can reduce the viscosity from >10,000 cP to <4,000 cP, significantly improving flowability and making it fully suitable for casting, injection molding, and 3D printing processes.
The performance improvements brought about by ultrasonic dispersion can further optimize the molding quality of ceramic parts. Uniformly dispersed particles significantly enhance the rheological stability of the slurry, reducing the likelihood of delamination and sedimentation during molding and ensuring a uniform green body structure. For 3D printing, a uniformly dispersed slurry enhances interlayer bonding, reduces delamination defects, and controls part dimensional accuracy within a deviation of <±0.1 mm, meeting the dimensional requirements of precision ceramic parts.
The combination of ultrasonic dispersion technology and high-solids-content ceramic slurries not only solves the core pain points of traditional manufacturing processes but also promotes the intelligent and efficient upgrading of ceramic molding processes. In the future, with the continuous optimization of ultrasonic dispersion technology, the dispersion effect and stability of high solids content slurries will be further improved, expanding their application in high-end fields such as aerospace, electronic information, and biomedicine, injecting new impetus into the high-quality development of the ceramic manufacturing industry.
