Rheological studies of carbon powder were carried out with different dispersants and solvent systems. Irrespective of the dispersant used, in Xyl-EtOH (50∶50), when the dispersant concentration is 0–2 wt-%, shear thinning behaviour only is observed. Optimum dispersant concentration for MFO and KD-1 is found to be 3 wt-%. Even for other solvent systems such as Tol-EtOH and MEK-EtOH, MFO and KD-1 were found to be good dispersants. For a given dispersant, Xyl-EtOH with 50∶50 ratio was found to be the optimum with minimum viscosity and yield stress. Based on this, tape casting of carbon powder was carried out using Xyl-EtOH (50∶50) as the solvent system with KD-1 (3 wt-%) as the dispersant for a solid loading of 30 wt-%. The tapes were agglomerate free yet severe drying related problems were observed. Defect free carbon tapes of desired thickness were achieved by controlling the evaporation and diffusion rates of solvents.
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