Modeling the synthesis of porous spherical shells and microspheres of zirconia by electrodispersion precipitation

A simulation model is developed to describe the formation of porous microshells and microspheres of zirconia by electrodispersion precipitation. Galerkin finite element method (FEM) is applied to solve partial differential equations (PDEs) numerically. The effects of selecting different time step sizes and spatial discretizations on the accuracy of the simulation solution are determined. Simulations are also conducted to evaluate the effect of the concentration of ammonia in the continuous organic phase on formation of the zirconia microshells and microspheres. The computation results are in good agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, the above model can predict the effect of the initial pH value of the aqueous solution on the precipitation process. Finite difference method (FDM) is also employed to solve the governing PDEs.