Colloidal processes are recently willingly applied in fabrication of high-quality ceramic elements and composite materials. These methods are used in fabrication of ceramic materials for different applications, e.g. ceramic engineering, electronics, biomaterials.
Colloidal processes of ceramics and composites require new, effectively working processing agents like deflocculants, binders, organic monomers, etc. The author will present also the synthesis and application of new water dispersible polymeric binders with different chemical structure.  The results of the studies on the application of new water dispersible binders such as poly(acrylic-styrene) and others for tape casting of ceramics and composites will be presented.
An important part of the research were composites based on barium strontium titanate (BST) powders and polymers with different chemical structure and different parameters such as glass transition temperature and wettability of powders. BST/polymer composites combine properties which are typical for polymers, like good flexibility and forming capability, with high electro responses of barium strontium titanate, what makes them very attractive for many modern applications. Ferroelectric ceramic-polymer composites based on BST are characterized by low values of dielectric permittivity and dielectric losses, the possibility of changing the relative value of electric permittivity in the external electric field and flexibility. tunable antenna systems, satellite telecommunications, materials imaging, chemical analysis, phase shifters and many others. In order to meet the expectations of high-frequency technologies, it is necessary to develop a material with sufficiently low stresses. The properties of the ceramic-polymer composite depend to a large extent on the polymer used to obtain them. By selecting the appropriate monomers and their weight ratio, already at the stage of the synthesis, it is possible to design the chemical structure of the polymeric binder, and thus predict its properties (for example the glass transition temperature), adjusting them to a specific application.
Another important part of the research is obtaining BST/polymer composites with a novel method combining photopolymerization of monomers with traditional tape casting. Then, the compositions of ceramic slurries containing different types and amounts of photocurable monomers, photoinitiators and dispersing agents were optimized as well as the conditions of photopolymerization process. The influence of the compositions of the suspensions on their rheological properties was examined. The effect of the time of the photopolymerization process and the type and amounts of selected monomers on the cure-depth of the polymerization was investigated. After the formation of composite tape on a special substrate, ceramic-polymer composites were obtained by photopolymerization. The physicochemical and electrical properties of the obtained composite materials were examined including measurements the electric permittivity of ceramic-polymer composites as a function of temperature and frequency of the applied electric field.
Acknowledgements: This work was financially supported by the Polish National Science Centre, project No 2018/30/Q/ST8/00205.