Preparation of (BaxSr1−x)TiO3 sols used for ceramic film jet-printing

As one of the ways for solid free-form fabrication, jet-printing technique directly deposits the ceramic sols on a substrate to form ceramic films using a ink-jet printer. In this process, the properties of ceramic sols are the key to determine the printing effect. In this paper, Ba–Ti, Sr–Ti and Ba–Sr–Ti sols used for ceramic film jet-printing were prepared using barium acetate, strontium acetate and tetrabutyl titanate as starting materials. The properties of the sols were determined and adjusted successfully through the variation of processing parameters. Formamide was added into the sols to improve the stability and the viscosity of the sols. For a constant concentration of ethylene glycol, the stability of the sol increases and the viscosity of the sol decreases as the concentration of formamide increases. The concentration ratio of acetic acid to ethylene glycol Rac/eg is crucial to obtain stable sols for jet-printing process. The optimal Rac/eg value is 3:1 for Sr–Ti sols, 3:2 for Ba–Ti and Ba–Sr–Ti sols.