Study on Gelcasting of Fused Silica Glass Using Glutinous Rice Flour as Binder

Gelcasting is a colloidal processing method for fabricating high‐strength and complex shape ceramic green bodies. However, industry has been reluctant to use the gelcasting technique because the most commonly used gel, acrylamide ( AM ), is a neurotoxin. Here, we report an attempt at the gelcasting of fused silica glass using a natural and nontoxic gel, glutinous rice flour ( GRF ) as binder. The GRF ‐based aqueous system was found to behave excellently in the gelcasting process. Flexural strength of fused silica green bodies solidified with only 3 wt% GRF is up to 11.87 MP a. Bulk density and flexural strength of fused silica glass sintered at 1275 °C are 1.75 g/cm 3 and 47.02 MP a, respectively.