Gelcasting, a ceramic forming process, was developed to overcome some of the limitations of current complex-shape forming techniques such as injection molding and slip casting while reducing the costs of shaping advanced ceramics. Gelcasting is based on the separation of the mold filling step from the setting step in these forming processes by utilizing the polvmerization of organic monomers into a chemical gel which holds the ceramic powder in place after the mold is filled. The simplicity of the process has attracted industrial partners and by collaboration between them and the developers, the process is being advanced from the laboratory toward industrial production.

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Sintering of 25-02-12 mol% Ce02 was accelerated by microwave processing at 2.45 GHz as compared with conventional firing. However, the size of the "microwave effect" was significantly smaller than that which was previously observed for microwave sintering of ZrO2-8 mol%. Y2O3. The difference in the effect that the microwave field had on the two zirconia systems is interpreted in terms of their ionic conductivities.

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