The manufacturing process of traditional and advanced technical ceramics is mainly governed by the involved thermal reactions of the starting products. The development of new investigation methods in the field of thermal analysis was in the past an important key to understand fundamentally solids reactions, to improve industrial firing processes and to optimize material properties. The coupling of conventional thermal analysis methods like TG/DTA with highly efficient analytical tools like mass or infrared spectroscopy is a further step to illuminate the whole ceramics process and to give new ideas for traditional processes and new products.

Some examples should demonstrate benefits of using FTIR-STA-coupling for the investigation of existing problems: Probably the most known example of how the above mentioned techniques could help to solve significant problems is the monitoring of hazardous fluorine emissions during the firing of clay consisting ceramics. FTIR-STA-coupling helped to determine certain emission steps and corresponding temperature ranges as well as to understand the responsible mechanisms. With this knowledge, improvements in firing cycles and mass compositions yielded in some cases nearly fluorine emission free production processes.

The emission of chlorides during the so called salt glazing of stone ware is another example for a serious air pollution problem related to a traditional ceramics process. FTIR-STA measurements in this field are in progress to understand the corresponding mechanisms of sodium chloride decomposition, evaporation and formation of a glaze on the ceramic body under emission of hydrogen chloride. With detailled knowledge of the involved reaction steps, the whole process could be improved by controling certain thermal reaction steps and to test chemical alternatives to sodium chloride.

An example, how FTIR-STA techniques could help to develope technical ceramics products is the monitoring of debindering for the production of injection molded precision ceramics. The investigation of such process leaded to an improved product, whose microstructure was nearly perfectly imaged and without any defects caused by thermal debindering.

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