Room-temperature gelcasting of alumina with tartaric acid and glutaraldehyde

A gelcasting system of alumina utilizing tartaric acid as the dispersant and glutaraldehyde as the crosslinker is reported, in which glutaraldehyde can polymerize itself and react with tartaric acid, thus forming a three-dimensional network. Measurement of zeta potential and viscosity shows good dispersion ability of tartaric acid. Shear modulus during gelation demonstrates its good gelation strength and fast gelation speed at room temperature. Moreover, an effective way to control the gelation speed is provided to improve the feasibility of this method. Results indicate that this gelcasting method has the advantages of low viscosity, small amounts of additives and short forming time and is a promising method to fabricate green bodies with large sizes and complex shapes.