This invention relates generally to a ceramic composition and to a method for producing said composition.
Conventional ceramic processing typically comprises ball milling a slurry, which contains a ceramic material and a solvent, to reduce the particle size of the ceramic material. The milled slurry is dried, such as by spray drying or pan drying, and the dried ceramic composition is then formed into articles.
In the fabrication of ceramic articles, a binder may be employed. A good binder must satisfy several criteria. It should be soluble in the slurry containing the ceramic and it should have a low solution viscosity thereby permitting high solids content in the slurry and facilitating ball milling. Also, a good binder should be compatible with other additives and processing steps. Since the binder is not a desirable component of a final ceramic article, it should be easily removable at some point in the processing sequence. In addition, the binder should impart green strength to the green fabricated article.