VITO?s Ceramic Materials and Powder Metallurgy group, as a part of the Materials Technology department, has experience in the field of manufacturing, designing and final processing of ceramic and powder metallurgical (PM) components.
The group implements client-driven research projects and develops innovative ceramic and PM-products and processes. Processing techniques available are pressing (uni-axial and cold isostatic), slip casting, gel casting, tape casting, sol-gel coating, debinding and calcining, sintering, machining, cutting, grinding and polishing.
In case colloidal shaping, eg gel casting, is applied, environment-friendly and non-toxic biopolymers are used. Shaping techniques are apllied to the fabrication of both dense and porous materials. Currently, the vast expertise in the field of shaping of ceramics is focussed on the fabrication of porous (either ceramic or metal) structures, mainly for biomedical applications.
The Ceramic Materials and Powder Metallurgy group is supported by a separate group for materials analysis and characterisation by means of FEGSEM, XPS, GDOES, AFM, XRD, profilometry, etc.
