What I learned from agglomerated powders

Materially Poem

Processing of Materials II.

It was one of the toughest courses I had to take. Learning the variety of ceramic materials, their properties, and their applications was not as difficult as understanding the behaviors of ceramic powders in the slurry.

The professor was always making the same speech before the lecture:

If you know how to handle pressure cookers and make non-agglomerated Turkish pilaf, you will be, for sure, successful in this course.

Hearing those words did not encourage us instead discouraged most of us. We could not even find time to have a proper meal because of the responsibility of courses, improving cooking skills was definitely another level that none of us could reach at that time.

Nevertheless, I always kept his comment in my mind just to remind myself of the importance of cooking. Never thought basic cooking skills will help me to understand the logic of material processing.

However, I can see the similarities between after learning cooking.

The professor was right!

The cup you have coffee with and all other ceramic kitchenware went through the same basic processes which include slurry preparation and giving the final shape of the product. In the case of ceramic slurry preparation, all powder ingredients and chemicals are mixed to obtain a well viscous mixture.

Isn’t it just like baking a cake?

We add flour, baking soda, sugar, milk, oil, and maybe chocolate.

What is very critical in this process?

When the ingredients’ particles bond together and form a free-flowing unit which is defined as the agglomeration, shaping would not be possible. The cake we try to bake will be half baked and half raw which is a terrible outcome to share with friends.

Because these particles (hard or soft ) create large holes in the ceramic body which cannot even be eliminated during the sintering (let's say baking) . So it will for sure degrade the physical properties of the final product.

In the beginning, the agglomeration of particles was somehow sounded very cute to me. I was imagining them hugging each other and becoming stronger in the slurry. :)

My emotional interpretation was completely the opposite of reality and I wrote the following sentences to express my disappointment.

All I wanted was to be together with my loved ones like agglomerated ceramic powders
but I learned that agglomeration leads to the disintegration of the ceramic body
So, no need of getting so much close to anyone as to not create a crack in my ceramic heart