The occupation of volume in large ceramic injection mouldings solidified under different pressures using two moulding techniques is considered. Large (60 × 45 × 25 mm) alumina injection mouldings were prepared in cavities fitted with conventional (metallic) and insulated [poly(ether ether ketone)] sprues. These provide quite distinct solidification histories which, in turn, influence the physical properties of the moulding and the extent and type of defects it contains. In the former case, the gate solidified after 26 s whereas, in the latter, the hold pressure could be applied for over 240 s. In insulated sprue moulding, the advance of the solid liquid boundary during packing and solidification was traced by fractography. Pressure was varied from 5 to 120 MPa. The interdependencies of moulding mass, apparent density, local density, polymer crystallinity, and microstructure were accounted for as a function of pressure and pressure transmission method. Changes in polymer crystallinity due to different cooling rates at different positions in the mouldings were insufficient to account for observed density differences. Systematic changes in the mass as a function of hold pressure were related to macroporosity in conventional mouldings and to microporosity in insulated sprue mouldings.

A chemical vapor deposition process has been developed for titanium dioxide (TiOx) for applications as capacitor dielectric in sub-quarter-micron dynamic random-access memory devices, and as gate insulators in emerging generations of etal-oxide-semiconductor transistors. Studies using the β-diketonate source precursor (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato) titanium were carried out to examine the underlying mechanisms that control film nucleation and growth kinetics and to establish the effects of key process parameters on film purity, composition, texture, morphology, and electrical properties. Resulting film properties were thoroughly analyzed by x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused-ion-beam SEM, and capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurements. The study resulted in the identification of an optimized process for the deposition of an anatase–rutile TiOx film with a dielectric constant approximately 85 at 1 MHz for a 330-nm thickness, and a leakage current below 2 × 10−8 A/cm2 for bias voltage values up to 3.5 V.

Prealloyed powders of the intermetallic γ–TiAl phase and the ceramic Ξ–Ti5Si3 phase were high-energy milled and hot-isostatically pressed (HIP) to produce silicide dispersed composite materials with grain sizes in the submicron and nanometer range. The amorphous state of the as-milled powders crystallizes via a multistep decomposition reaction during degassing at 440 °C and HIP. At a pressure of 200 Mpa HIP-temperatures as low as 750 °C are sufficient for a complete densification of the milled powder. The microstructure of the compacts is very homogeneous and consists of equiaxed γ–TiAl crystals and Ξ–Ti5(Si,Al)3 particles. Depending on the silicon content, these particles are interspersed within the grain boundary network of the γ–TiAl phase or dispersed inside the γ grains. With respect to technical applications, submicron-grained composites are regarded as promising precursor materials that should allow for easy hot working in the as-prepared state as well as for high-temperature structural applications after a suitable transformation of the microstructure.

A simple method for kinetic analysis of solid-state processes has been developed. A criteria capable of classifying different processes is explored here with a view toward visualizing the complexity of solid-state kinetics. They provide a useful tool for the determination of the most suitable kinetic model. The method has been applied to the analysis of crystallization processes in amorphous ZrO2 and RuO2. It is found that the crystallization kinetics of as-prepared sample exhibits a complex behavior under nonisothermal conditions. This is probably due to an overlapping of the nucleation- and crystal-growth processes at the beginning of crystallization. As a consequence, the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami nucleation-growth model cannot be applied. A two-parameter autocatalytic model provides a good description of the crystallization process under isothermal and nonisothermal conditions.