R&D OPPORTUNITES IN DRYING OF ADVANCED ELECTRO-CERAMICS

This article presents an inaoduction to the various drying processes operational in the ceramic processing industry, with special emphasis on electro ceramics. An attempt is made to arouse the interest of drying specialists in fields other than ceramics to participate in a concentrated group effort to solve a number of existing problems related to ceramics drying. The importance of materials education is highlighted by referring to a few examples depicting the effect of the drying process on the final product quality. It is argued that with more research, conventional processes like spray drying, rotary drum drying, etc. can be improved or replaced with alternative processes like freeze drying, microwave drying, infrared drying and vibrated fluidized bed drying.