Nanodesigning of Hierarchical Multifunctional Ceramics.

The work presented in this report details the activities of the Ceramic Materials Laboratory at Princeton University during the period 1992 through 1995. The goals of the project were to develop methods for processing ceramic composites at the nanometer scale using a variety of processing methodologies. Materials systems included high 1000 deg C and low 1000 deg C materials ceramicceramic and ceramicmetal composites respectively and multifunctional ceramics. Several different approaches were used for the nanodesigning of materials 1 reaction sintering, 2 exsolution, and 3 coassembly two classes of materials were used as model systems for these processing methods 1 structural ceramics and 2 functional ceramics. Shape forming research emphasized field assisted patterning, gel-casting, osmotic consolidation, and coassembly. Modeling efforts continued on 1 the interaction between inorganic materials and organic surfactants in the coassembly of particles an mesoporous matrices and 2 the sintering of nanosized particles. In general, our studies demonstrated that nanometer scale inclusions in oxide and non-oxide ceramic matrices can be achieved by any one of several different routes. Different materials systems require different methods of processing in order to achieve the level of control desired for the manufacture of nanocomposites.