Impulse Excitation Technique IET as a non-destructive method for determining changes during the gelcasting process

Abstract Gelcasting is a good method for obtaining ceramic components with a pre-defined shape. From the point of view of the course of the ceramic casting process, a very important issue is the so-called idle time or gelation time whose measurement is usually based on determining changes in ceramic slurry viscosity by means of rheometers. However, searches are being continued to find methods which would have the least impact on the interactions between ceramic powder particles and the forming polymeric structure and would allow more time range to observe changes in gelcasting process compared to classic measurements of viscosity. In the article, based on measurements on Al2O3, ZrO2 and SiC-based gelcasting systems with various water-soluble acrylic monomers, it has been demonstrated that such requirements may be fulfilled by IET (Impulse Excitation Technique).