%0 Journal Article %T Colloid Zirconia Binder of Improved Wetting Properties %A Maria Morga %A Zbigniew Adamczyk %A Katarzyna Jaszcz¨®£¿t %A Ma£¿gorzata Nattich-Rak %J Ceramics-Silik¨¢ty %D 2012 %I Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic %X Physicochemical properties of colloid zirconia aqueous sol, used as a binder in the investment casting industry, werethoroughly determined. The size of the particles was determined by dynamic light scattering, and the zeta potential of theparticles was measured by microelectrophoresis. The average size of the particles was 13 nm and the zeta potential waspositive, equal to 30 mV. The size distribution of particles deposited on mica surface was also determined using AFMmeasurements. The wetting properties of the binder suspension were determined for the paraffin/air interface using the shapeanalysis of pendant and sessile drops. The perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), an anionic surfactant, the non-ionic fluorinatedsurfactants Zonyl FSO-100 and Rokafenol RN8, and the mixtures of the surfactants were studied. Our investigations showedthat the Zonyl-FSO surfactant and its mixture with Rokafenol effectively reduced the dynamic contact angle from the initialvalue of 94¡ã to the value of 30¡ã. Such low contact angles represent an essential improvement of zirconia binder wettability,thus widen the range of applicability in investment casting of finely shaped details. %K Colloid zirconia binder %K Density of zirconia binder %K Viscosity measurements of zirconia suspensions %K Surface tension of zirconia binders %K Wettability of zirconia binder %U http://www.ceramics-silikaty.cz/2012/pdf/2012_01_1.pdf