Coloured Technical Ceramic Bodies with Sharp Color Demarcation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods struggle to produce bi-colored or multi-colored technical ceramic bodies with sharp color demarcation while maintaining favorable mechanical properties.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a composition of alumina with transition metal or rare earth metal dopants, such as chromium, cobalt, and lanthanides, where a green body is prepared and treated with a metal-containing solution to achieve different colors through impregnation, ensuring sharp color boundaries and high mechanical quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If impregnation of green body with metallic salt solution is performed to achieve coloration, then color quality and aesthetic properties are improved, but mechanical properties may deteriorate due to potential weakening of the ceramic structure
Solution Approach 1:
The ceramic body is pre-sintered before impregnation to establish a stable structure with controlled porosity. This preliminary heat treatment creates an optimal matrix that can accommodate the metallic salt solution without compromising mechanical strength, while still allowing sufficient pore access for colorant uptake.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes the porous structure of the pre-sintered green body as a vehicle for colorant delivery. The controlled porosity allows the metallic salt solution to penetrate and deposit colorants uniformly throughout the ceramic matrix, achieving vivid coloration while maintaining structural integrity through the porous network.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple impregnation steps are used to create bi-colored or multi-colored ceramic bodies, then color variety and aesthetic value are improved, but manufacturing complexity and process time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ceramic body is divided into distinct zones or regions that are selectively impregnated with different metallic salt solutions. By applying masks, stencils, or localized application methods, different colors can be introduced into specific areas without requiring complete re-impregnation of the entire piece, thereby reducing overall process complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the ceramic body are given different color properties through selective impregnation. The green body's uniform porous structure enables localized colorant deposition, allowing complex multi-colored designs to be achieved by simply varying the location and type of impregnation applied to different zones rather than changing the fundamental impregnation process.
3Strength
If high sintering temperature is used to achieve dense ceramic structure, then mechanical strength and hardness are improved, but color demarcation sharpness deteriorates due to increased diffusion of colorants
Solution Approach 1:
The invention optimizes the sintering temperature parameter to a specific range that balances densification and colorant diffusion. By carefully controlling the sintering temperature and duration, the ceramic achieves sufficient mechanical strength and hardness while limiting excessive diffusion that would blur color boundaries, thereby maintaining sharp color demarcation.
Solution Approach 2:
The sharp color demarcation is achieved by first creating a precise physical or chemical barrier pattern on the green body before impregnation, then copying this pattern into the final sintered product. The pre-sintered structure serves as a template that preserves sharp boundaries during the coloring process, allowing the final high-strength ceramic to replicate the original sharp color patterns.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method successfully produces technical ceramic bodies with distinct, high-quality colors and retains mechanical properties like hardness and toughness, suitable for applications requiring aesthetic and functional value.
Implementation Method 1
treating a part of the area of the green body with a metal-containing preparation, in particular impregnating a part of the surface and/or volume of the green body with a solution of at least one metallic salt
Implementation Method 2
The ions are introduced through impregnation of an aqueous solution and allow to colour the ceramic
Data Source
Figure 1(a)~2
AI summary
The present invention relates to novel technical ceramic bodies and a method for preparing these technical ceramic bodies. The method of the invention for the production of a coloured technical ceramic body comprises the following steps: providing a composition comprising alumina, at least one pigment component and optionally binder materials, preparing a green body from this composition, optionally debinding the green body, thereafter subjecting the green body to a treatment with a metal-containing preparation as a further pigment component, and sintering the treated green body. The coloured technical ceramic body of the present invention consists of alumina as a technical ceramic material, the technical ceramic body comprising a first coloured area and a second coloured area of a different colour, whereby the first coloured area contains a first pigment component, and the second coloured area contains a second pigment component in combination with the first pigment component.