Improvement of the rheological properties of the zirconia/polypropylene system for ceramic injection moulding using coupling agents

• Published in: Journal of materials science 1992-10, Vol.27 (19), p.5297-5302
• Main Authors: TAKAHASHI, M, HAYASHI, J, SUZUKI, S, ISHIGURE, Y
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Building materials. Ceramics. Glasses; Ceramic industries; Chemical industry and chemicals; Exact sciences and technology; General studies; Technical ceramics
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/BF02403833

To improve the rheological properties of the zirconia /polypropylene system for ceramic injection moulding, the zirconia powder was surface-treated with aluminate (A), silane (S), and titanate (T) coupling agents dissolved in toluene. 2% additions of these coupling agents decreased the torque, T sub h , for compounding the zirconia filled-polypropylene after 1 h at 180 deg C. The surface treatment also reduced the viscosity, eta sub a , of the compound, the effectiveness of the coupling agents on viscosity reduction being T > S > A. On the contrary, the apparent activation energy, E sub a , for flow of the compound increased when fluidity was promoted by surface treatment. Rheological measurements in systems with different titanate concentrations showed that the three parameters, T sub h , eta sub a , and E sub a , remained nearly constant for coupling agent additions of > 2%. This critical concentration of 2% showed good correspondence to the optimum concentration evaluated from thermogravimetric analysis of the powders. Y31710 PSZ is tested.