Development of ceramic microstructures

 For the production of microstructured ceramic parts, development efforts are necessary in the field of powder synthesis as well as in the area of shaping. Several processes have been developed. Powder synthesis was performed starting from metal organic precursors and using a two stage thermal process. Shaping was performed by sol-gel methods, by pressing of a ceramic slurry or an organic precursor paste as well as by direct electrophoretic deposition of gels in a microstructured form. An overview is given on the methods and the results. Received: 30 October 1995 / Accepted: 12 January 1996