title: Suppressing Crack Formation in Particulate Systems by Utilizing Capillary Forces.
abstract: Cracks, formed during the drying of particulate films, can reduce the effectiveness or even render products useless. We present a novel, generic approach to suppress crack formation in thin films made from hard particle suspensions, which are otherwise highly susceptible to cracking, using the capillary force between particles present when a trace amount of an immiscible liquid is added to a suspension. This secondary liquid preserves the particle cohesion, modifying the structure and increasing the drying rate. Crack-free films can be produced at thicknesses much greater than the critical cracking thickness for a suspension without capillary interactions, and even persists after sintering. This capillary suspension strategy is applicable to a broad range of materials, including suspensions of metals, semiconductive and ceramic oxides, or glassy polymeric particles, and can be easily implemented in many industrial processes since it is based on well-established unit operations. Promising fields of application include ceramic foils and printed electronic devices.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , Gotthard-Franz-Straße 3, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , Gotthard-Franz-Straße 3, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3491-2708
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maurath
authors.affiliation: Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , Gotthard-Franz-Straße 3, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.|Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200f, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Steffen B
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1595-4160
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , Gotthard-Franz-Straße 3, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.|Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200f, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weiß
authors.affiliation: Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , Gotthard-Franz-Straße 3, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Willenbacher
authors.affiliation: Institute for Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , Gotthard-Franz-Straße 3, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.|Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven , Celestijnenlaan 200f, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2468-2312
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koos
keywords: capillary suspensions; crack formation; drying; solvent effects; wetting