Characteristics of Layered Gels Formation by Additive Technologies

Abstract

In order to study the properties of the different density silica gels optical methods were used. It is shown that layers of gels spatially inhomogeneous and anisotropic, their optical density are significantly reduced near the free surface. It is found that on the surface of thin layers of silica gel there are convective structures. Features of multi-layered gel structures with different densities were studied. It is found that after the gels forming layers have poor adhesion to each other. This is due to the fact that the volume between different layers of gels filled with liquid. The presence of liquid in the interlayer volume is observed visually and confirmed by the light scattering of the laser beam. The thicknesses of the liquid boundaries between the layers of the gels were estimated.