ABSTRACT
This chapter's purpose is to familiarize the reader with the benefits of processing with an ideal powder versus a conventionally processed multicomponent mixture and to describe various technologies for controlling powder characteristics for a spectrum of oxide and nonoxide ceramic materials. Chemistry in the liquid phase is an approach in which the physical characteristics of a ceramic powder are controlled by nucleation, growth, and aging processes in solution. When considering precipitation from homogeneous solution (PFHS) techniques for ceramics processing, it should be kept in mind that many of these methods have been developed to precipitate filterable coarse-grained solids with well-defined chemical compositions for quantitative analysis. Ceramic powders can be prepared via an in situ transformation and/or a dissolution-reprecipitation. The benefits of processing with an ideal powder versus a conventionally processed multicomponent mixture and the various synthetic technologies for preparing a spectrum of submicron ceramic oxides and nonoxides have been discussed.
