Centrifugal Gel Casting of Graded Al₂O₃-Ni Composites Using 2-Carboxyethyl Acrylate

This study presents the fabrication and characterization of functionally graded Al 2 O 3 -Ni ceramic-metal composites using centrifugal gel casting with 2-carboxyethyl acrylate (CEA) as the monomer. Two Series of composites were produced under different centrifugal conditions to investigate their influence on nickel distribution, microstructure, and mechanical performance. The CEA-based gel system enabled the formation of dense green bodies with improved phase dispersion and sintering behavior. Microstructural analysis revealed that lower rotational speed and longer casting time (2500 rpm, 110 min) led to a more uniform radial distribution of nickel particles and reduced agglomeration. This microstructural improvement resulted in significantly higher compressive strength (1620 kN) compared to the faster cast series (977 kN). Digital image correlation confirmed more distributed strain fields and delayed fracture in the optimized samples. These findings demonstrate that casting parameters and monomer chemistry can be effectively tailored to engineer dense, robust, and gradient-structured ceramic–metal composites for high-performance applications.