Ceramics at TWI

Sol-gel coatings

Sol-gel is a chemical synthesis technique for the fabrication of glasses and glass ceramics. A wide range of compositions can be fabricated using this technique. The properties of the coatings are determined by the composition and the detailed synthesis procedure. Applications where sol-gel technology has been used include:

• Chemical protection
• Abrasion protection
• Anti-reflective coatings
• Electronic material
• Optoelectronics

Coatings can be deposited on a wide range of substrates including, metals, glasses, ceramics and polymers. The coatings themselves may be:

• Inorganic
• Inorganic/organic composites
• Organic/inorganic structural hybrids

Services offered by TWI include:

• Materials selection
• Processing and evaluation

TWI also offers a range of characterisation methods these include:

• Optical microscopy
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis
• Thermal analysis
• Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR)
• X-ray diffraction (XRD)

Further information

Knowledge summaries

• Sol-gel: principles and applications

FAQs

• What is sol-gel processing?
• What are the main industrial application areas for sol-gel derived materials?
• What is a sol (in the context of sol-gel technology)?
• How does a gel form from a sol?
• What materials can you make with sol-gel?

Staff papers

• Sol-gel: synthesising glasses and ceramics (Bulletin, March/April 1996) Industrial Members Only
• Ceramics coating - a growing technology (Bulletin, March/April 1992) Industrial Members Only
• TWI comes up to scratch (Connect, January 1999)
• Novel joining and sealing processes for solid oxide fuel cell technology

For more information please contact: ceramics@twi.co.uk