Drying of binder-free granular ceramic films was studied to identify processing variables which affect their cracking behavior. Films were prepared from electrostatically stabilized suspensions of a-alumina in water. A critical cracking thickness (CCT) was determined, above which films would spontaneously crack during drying. The effects of particle size, liquid surface tension, drying rate, dispersion stability, and sedimentation time were evaluated by a statistical design methodology. The CCT for films prepared on glass substrates was used as a measure of the effect of each variable on cracking. The statistically significant variables were particle size, dispersion stability, and sedimentation time. The effect of substrate constraint was also studied by producing films on a Teflon substrate and a pool of liquid Hg. The observations were consistent with a capillary formed tensile stress acting on the entire film rather than differential stress generated by a moisture gradient over the film thickness.

Films composed of ceramic particles were observed during drying. The films were prepared from 20 vol% aqueous dispersions of a-alumina and a-quartz and were free of any organic binder. Conditions for uniform film saturation during drying were established by consideration of a liquid transport model and by direct observation of the drying films. Drying stresses were measured in situ by a substrate deflection method based on an optical interference technique. Simultaneous stress and weight measurements were used to determine stress as a function of saturation. The maximum stress occurred near 100% saturation and was approximately 2 and 1.1 MPa for films produced from 0.35-and 0.68-ym particles, respectively. The maximum stress decreased from 2 to 0.9 MPa for films produced from the 0.35-pm particles when 0.005 wt% surfactant was added to the slurry. The surfactant decreased the liquid surface tension from 72 to 32 dydcm. These observations are direct evidence of the effects of capillary tension on the state of stress in a ceramic body. Mechanical properties of the green ceramic films were estimated by use of a linear elastic fracture model. Knowledge of the critical cracking thickness and maximum stress in the film was used to estimate the fracture resistance of the granular film. The fracture resistance values are approximately 0.02 and 0.007 MPam'O for films produced from alumina and silica, respectively. The difference in mechanical behavior of the silica and alumina films is similar to that expected by the difference in Hamaker constants between the two materials.