(email: sasa.novak@ijs.si)

 

Laboratory: Department for Nanostructured Materials (Slovenia)

Address: Jamova c. 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Personal web page: http://aragonit.ijs.si


Abstract

The EPD is an exciting topic that you hardly avoid when you once start with it. Therefore, in my group we always first think how “this could be done by EPD”. We employ it in shape forming of bulk SiC-ceramics since, and by using aqueous suspensions much higher green densities are obtained than by dry pressing. The same kind of suspensions is also used for infiltration of 3-D SiC-fabric and so we succeeded to prepare high performance SiC/SiC composite for use under extreme conditions. Assembling of monodisperse silica spheres by EPD helped us in production of gorgeous highly porous SiC with nanosized pores of equal size. A special challenge was to separate biological species by use of the EPD principle: the inclusion bodies produced by bacteria were separated from the bacteria by employing the acquired knowledge of their zeta potentials. Currently we are dealing with EPD shape forming of bulk PEEK-nanoparticles composites and coating of Ti-based implants with PEEK or bioactive glass.

But first of all, we always comprehensively analyze the powders suspensions, which are in our laboratory almost always used and analyzed with high solids loading.  And finally, we are much intrigued by the relationship of the final properties of the EPD-formed materials with the properties of the suspensions and process parameters.

 

Selected publications

 

  • NOVAK, Saša, RADE, Katja, KOENIG, Katja, BOCCACCINI, Aldo R. Electrophoretic deposition in the production of SiC composites for fusion reactor applications. J. Eur. Ceram. Soc.., (2008),  issue 14, vol. 28, 2801-2807
  • NOVAK, Saša, KOENIG, Katja. Fabrication of alumina parts by electrophoretic deposition from ethanol and aqueous suspensions. Ceram. int. , 2009, vol. 35, no. 7, 2823-2829
  • NOVAK, Saša, MAVER, Uroš, PETERNEL, Špela, VENTURINI, Peter, BELE, Marjan, GABERŠČEK, Miran. Electrophoretic deposition as a tool for separation of protein inclusion bodies from host bacteria in suspension. Colloids surf., A Physicochem. eng. asp.., 2009, vol. 340, no. 1/3, 155-160.