摘要 |
Shaped, self-supporting ceramic bodies are produced by preparing a mold by applying a permeable, conformable material to a shape-defining surface of an expendable pattern. The permeable, conformable material, when set or stable, provides a mold with a shaped surface which is defined by, and is therefore substantially congruent to, the shape-defining surface. Upon heating, the material of the expendable pattern combusts or volatilizes and thus establishes the shaped cavity mold. A molten parent metal is then vaporized with a vapor-phase oxidant in such a manner as to form a ceramic body which grows into the mold cavity, and is shaped by it. The ceramic body is recovered from the mold having a shaped surface replicating the shape-defining surface of the expendable pattern.
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