Investigation on Delay Solidification for Gelcasting

In order to get enough operating time in gelcasting processing, we hope ceramic slurry delay solidification. Idle time commonly is postponed by decreasing slurry temperature and the amount of initiator and catalyst. In this paper, other ways were studied. The heat evolution of the slurry was measured to characterize the polymerization process. Results show that increasing ionic strength can delay polymerization reaction. Idle time is shortened when pH of slurry decreased but mounted up rapidly when pH of slurry is under 1.7. Various inhibitors have different inhibit effect on polymerization under different temperatures. Composite inhibitor of phenothiazine and catechol can delay solidification of ceramic slurry effectively under 20-60*.