CHEAPCOMPONENTS

This project, which is a collaboration between the Temex Ceramics company and the LUSAC laboratory, intends to optimize the dielectric properties of oxide ceramic components for electronics and to lower their cost. Optimizing components performance directly relies on the elaboration process of the ceramic materials. All steps of the ceramic process will thus be investigated and emphasis will particularly be laid on the powder mixing and grinding stages for which classical attrition methods will be compared to innovating techniques using high energy grinders and newer methods such as mechanically-activated synthesis of oxide powders or sol-gel processing using gelling agents issued from the agribusiness given by the Business Unit CARGILL Texturizing Solutions of Cargill France SAS. Two industrial applications are particularly aimed at : - Multilayer ceramic capacitors where we will try to substitute Pd internal electrodes by much cheaper non noble metals without lowering of the dielectric properties ; - Ba(Zn1/3Ta2/3)O3 microwave dielectric ceramic materials where solutions to substitute very expensive Ta or to find replacing materials having the same microwave properties will be investigated. Scientific studies should bring answers to the above-mentioned industrial concerns. They will focus on understanding the relationships between processing parameters, microstructure and dielectric properties. Powder synthesis processes - grinding and/or sol-gel – will lead to nanosized powders: shaping these nanopowders and firing the obtained compacts through fast sintering techniques should lead to finely microstructured materials.