Better ceramics through chemistry III; Proceedings of the Symposium, Reno, NV, Apr. 5-9, 1988

The present conference on sol-gel chemical methods for ceramic production discusses topics in the sol-gel methodology of silicates and nonsilicates, structure-property relationships in sol-gel products, powder synthesis and processing methods, sol-gel composition characterization methods, polymeric-precursor nonoxide ceramics production, aerogels, and sol-gel film-production methods. Attention is given to branching theory in sol-gel processing, polymetallic alkoxide precursors for ceramics, syneresis in silica gel, nanometer-sized inorganic gel particles, sol-gel protective films for metallic solar mirrors, the 'Varogel' glass-formation technique, the optimization of sol-gel film properties, luminescent oxide gels, and the sol-gel processing of transparent MgAl/sub 2/O/sub 4/.