**2. Fundamentals and models**

Electrophoretic Deposition is a traditional processing method in the ceramic industry that is gaining increasing interest for production of new materials coatings.

EPD is achieved through the movement of charged particles dispersed in a suitable liquid towards an electrode under an applied electric field. This movement results in the accumulation of the particles and in the formation of a homogeneous deposit at the appropriate electrode (Figure 1).

The main requirement to obtain an efficient EPD process is to use suitable suspensions where ceramic particles are well suspended and dispersed. When a ceramic particle is in a liquid medium, it can be charged through four mechanisms (Van der Biest & Vandeperre, 1999):


For the analysis and discussion on charging mechanisms and particles interactions, that are at the base of this ceramics processing method, one can refer to the fundamentals of colloid science widely discussed in literature (Lewis, 2000).

Since EPD is assumed to be a two-step process, electrophoresis and deposition, each step require accurate attention. Firstly, the kinetics of the process will be described giving particular attention to the relation between process parameters and time evolution of the deposit yield. Then, the mechanisms of deposition proposed in literature will be discussed.

Fig. 1. Scheme of EPD process
