Method for the densification of ceramic layers, especially ceramic layers within solid oxide cell (soc) technology, and products obtained by the method

A method for the densification of porous ceramic layers by an in-situ solid state reaction, said method comprising:

• (a) providing a multilayer system by depositing the porous ceramic layer, which is to be densified, onto the selected system of ceramic layers on a support,
• (b) pre-sintering the resulting multilayer system by applying a temperature T1 to said multilayer system thereby consolidating and pre-sintering, said porous ceramic layer,
• (c) impregnating a solution or suspension of one or more sintering aids directly into said porous ceramic layer to be densified,
• (d) evaporating the solution or suspension of step (c) to obtain a homogeneous dispersion of the sintering aid(s) in said porous ceramic layer and
• (e) performing a thermal treatment by applying a temperature T2 to said multilayer system, where T2>T1, thereby obtaining densification of and grain growth in said porous layer formed in step (b) and thus providing a densified porous ceramic layer having a structure where a grain size (g) and thickness (t) of the densified porous ceramic layer stand in relation to one another as given by
• g/t>0.1.