Chemical processing up to gelation

Abstract

The sol-gel process up to gelation is governed by the rules of chemistry. In case of homogeneous solutions, investigations on kinetics and structures can be carried out by common means of instrumental analysis. Once the system becomes colloidal or solid, indirect means for structural analysis have to be used. Numerous drastically as a function of changing reaction parameters. This is attributed to the structure forming steps during condensation. As consequence of a lack of simple structure revealing methods and a huge number of variation parameters not too much knowledge exists about structure (of sols) to material properties relations. The main influencing parameters are quite well-known, their applicability for a special system has to be investigated for each case.