Characterization of Thin Ceramic Layers with a Graded Pore Structure

Thin ceramic layers with a gradient in the grain size and the pore size distribution were prepared by centrifugal deposition fron diluted suspensions with a very low solid content and a multimodal particle size distribution. Besides drying and sintering of the sediments, a main problem is the detection of the gradient which can be expected to appear owing to the settling behaviour of the particles during centrifugation. For this reason, the layers were characterized by quantitative image analysis, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS).