Wet processing of mullite/molybdenum composites

The main objective of this work is to show that the difficulties involving substantial differences in particle size and density of commercial molybden um and mullite powders, when attempts are made to produce homogeneous and/o r functionally graded materials, can be overcome by intelligent choice of p rocessing parameters. The flocculant effect of an anionic polyelectrolyte o n Mo particles in water and in alcohol media has been shown. On this basis, an appropriate selection of solids loading and surfactant addition allows us to achieve the processing of mullite/molybdenum composites with a contro lled metal distribution and microstructure. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.