Freeze-Casting of Porous Ceramics: A Review of Current Achievements and Issues

TL;DR

This review discusses the principles, current achievements, and challenges in freeze-casting porous ceramics, emphasizing structure formation mechanisms and processing influences to guide future research and development.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the current state, underlying mechanisms, and issues in freeze-casting of porous ceramics, highlighting areas needing further understanding.

Findings

Understanding of structure formation mechanisms is limited.

Processing parameters significantly influence pore structure.

Current control over the process remains challenging.

Abstract

Freeze-casting, the templating of porous structure by the solidification of a solvent, have seen a great deal of efforts during the last few years. Of particular interest are the unique structure and properties exhibited by porous freeze-casted ceramics, which opened new opportunities in the field of cellular ceramics. The objective of this review is to provide a first understanding of the process as of today, with particular attention being paid on the underlying principles of the structure formation mechanisms and the influence of processing parameters on the structure. This analysis highlights the current limits of both the understanding and the control of the process. A few perspectives are given, with regards of the current achievements, interests and identified issues.