The molding of ceramics parts by slip casting is an ancient process, but it is still very used because of low cost, simplicity and excellent mechanical properties of sintered parts. Better mechanical properties are obtained when the initial powder have small average particle size. In this work, ceramic parts were molded by slip casting of three commercial submicrometer-sized alumina powders. After sintering, some properties of these ceramic parts were measured, including hardness, density and wear coefficient. The slips do not flocullate, resulting in ceramic parts with excellent quality. Ceramic parts made with the alumina powder of smaller particle size exhibited high hardness, high density (99% TD) and lower wear coefficient. High quality alumina parts such as that produced in this work can be used in many applications, from textile industry to biological applications.
alumina; slip casting; sintering; properties
