doi:10.3850/978-981-08-6555-9_178

ABSTRACT

Water based tape casting is used for an environmentally sound production of thin ceramic sheets. The sheets are subsequently employed for micro components by layer manufacturing. By structuring and/or printing each sheet separately, very complex 3D components can be made, and the thinner the sheets, the higher the 3D resolution. A common problem for very thin tapes is the release of the ceramic tape from the carrier film. To reduce the adhesion a more hydrophobic carrier film is used, which however gives problems with bad wetting. In the present study surfactants are used to improve the wetting behaviour. In addition, the relation between wetting and adhesion has been studied in terms of contact angle, quality of cast tape and releasability of the carrier film. The results show that a better wetting increases the adhesion and that the specific interaction between tape and carrier film is very important for the release properties.

Keywords: Tape casting, Al₂O₃, Latex binder, Wetting, Adhesion, Surfactants.

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