Electrospray of fine droplets of ceramic suspensions for thin-film preparation

An electrostatic atomization technique has been developed to generate ultra-fine spray of ZrO₂ and SiC ceramic suspensions in a range of 4–5 μm with a narrow size distribution (1–9 μm). The aim of this work is to generate fine spray of ceramic suspensions for the preparation of uniform thin films of these ceramic materials on substrates. Thin-film formation using electrostatic atomization process allows one to tightly control the process while meeting the economics in comparison with some other competing process technologies such as chemical vapour deposition, physical vapour deposition and plasma spray, etc. Preliminary results have shown that for low through put atomization, the cone-jet is the most suitable method to produce a fine charged aerosol with a narrow size distribution. It was found that the droplet size of the spray is in the range of a few micrometers with a narrow size distribution and that droplet size and spray current obey theoretical prediction of scaling law. As prepared ZrO₂ and SiC thin films were observed to be homogenous with a particle size of less than 10 μm.