A NEW HERMETIC SEALING CERAMIC MATERIAL DERIVED AT LOW TEMPERATURE FROM A SOIL GEL

RESEARCHERS AT THE NSF-SPONSORED CENTER FOR MICRO-ENGINEEREDCERAMICS/UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HAVE DISCOVERED A LOW DENSITY, ANOMALOUSLY LOW SURFACE AREA, SOL-GEL DERIVED ALUMINA-SILICATE COMPOSITION. THEIR EFFORTS ARE FOCUSED ON UNDERSTANDING THE MOLECULAR PROCESSES BY WHICH THIS UNIQUE CHARACTERISTIC IS OBTAINED. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LOWSURFACE AREA STRUCTURE AT LOW TEMPERATURES (100 DEGREES CENTIGRADE) SUGGESTS APPLICATION OF THIS MATERIAL AS A HERMETIC COATING IN A RANGE OF APPLICATIONS THAT CANNOT TOLERATE THE HIGH TEMPERATURES REQUIRED TO DENSIFY CONVENTIONAL FILMS. PROPOSED IS A MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. PRIOR TO THE EXPLOITATION OF THIS MATERIAL, ITS TRANSPORT (I.E., HERMETIC) PROPERTIES MUST BE QUANTIFIED TO ENABLE ITS TARGETING FOR SPECIFIC ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS. THE PROGRAM RESULT WILL BE THE NECESSARY PROCESS-MICROSTRUCTURE-TRANSPORT PROPERTY UNDERSTANDING TO DIRECT THIS MATERIAL TO SPECIFIC ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS. AN EXISTING VACUUM SYSTEM WILL BE MODIFIED FOR PERMEATION STUDIES. ALUMINASILICATE FILMS OF VARIOUS THICKNESSES WILL BE CAST BY VARIOUS TECHNIQUES, THERMALLY TREATED, AND DIFFUSION PROPERTIES MEASURED. MICROSTRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COATINGS WILL BE CORRELATED WITH DIFFUSION PROPERTIES. ITERATIVE STUDIES OF DIFFUSION PROPERTIES AS A FUNCTION OF SOL-GEL PROCESSING CONDITIONS WILL BE CONDUCTED.