Near Net-Shaped, Alkaline-Earth-Bearing Ceramics for Electronic and Refractory Applications Via the Oxidation of Solid, Metal-Bearing Precursors (the VIMOX Process)

In most of the published work on the high-temperature oxidation of bulk metals, the resulting oxides are treated as undesired corrosion products. The opposite paradigm is discussed in this paper: bulk precursors containing alkaline earth metals (AE = Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) are completely oxidized to produce electrical or refractory ceramics. Relatively dense AE-metal-bearing green bodies can be fabricated by either solid-state deformation processing or liquid metal infiltration processing. Rapid oxidation of the solid AE metals and reaction with other oxides in the green bodies can yield desired compounds. Unlike other oxides, AE oxides possess smaller molar volumes than the corresponding metals. Hence, by adjusting the amounts of AE and non-AE components in a precursor, an all-ceramic body with a shape and volume identical to the precursor can be produced (Volume Identical Metal Oxidation or VIMOX). The syntheses of shaped electronic titanates and cerates, and refractory aluminates and aluminosilicates, are discussed.