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DESIGN, ASSEMBLY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPOSITE ...

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and characterizing rheological properties to facilitate assembly of complex heterogeneous<br />

structures. Likewise, exploring the impact of process variations, such as liquid phase<br />

sintering to enable successful co-sintering of devices while maintaining the overall<br />

properties of the metal and ceramic phases, is a new area for SFF. Insights from this<br />

work reveal several key requirements for metal-ceramic composite SFF, namely:<br />

formulation of the appropriate colloidal gels of fugitive, ceramic, metal, and flux-<br />

containing materials, successful co-sintering of composite structures, and understanding<br />

of the limitations of the chosen materials system and processes.<br />

1.3. Thesis Scope<br />

The major task of this project is to develop aqueous colloidal inks for fabrication<br />

of ceramic-metal composite structures, focusing on the following aspects: 1) to formulate<br />

an aqueous colloidal fugitive ink with appropriate rheological properties and chemistries<br />

based on carbonaceous materials so that long-spanning and cantilevered features may be<br />

created by SFF; 2) to develop compatible aqueous colloidal ceramic and metal inks and<br />

evaluate their relevant chemistries and material properties; 3) to produce ceramic-metal<br />

composite powder preforms through serial printing of colloidal inks; 4) to consolidate<br />

these preforms and study the effects of process variables including ink composition,<br />

temperature profile, and sintering strategy. Finally, fabrication of disparate,<br />

heterogeneous, geometrically complex ceramic-metal composites is demonstrated.<br />

1.4. Thesis Organization<br />

This thesis is organized into seven chapters. Chapter one states the motivation of<br />

this work, thesis objectives, thesis scope, and thesis organization. Chapter two provides<br />

3

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