A process for centrifugal slip casting a textured hollow tube. A slip made
up of a carrier fluid and a suspended powder is introduced into a porous
mold which is rotated at a speed sufficient to create a centrifugal force
that forces the slip radially outward toward the inner surface of the
mold. The suspended powder, which is formed of particles having large
dimensional aspect ratios such as particles of superconductive BSCCO,
settles in a textured fashion radially outward toward the mold surface.
The carrier fluid of the slip passes by capillary action radially outward
around the settled particles and into the absorbent mold. A layer of mold
release material is preferably centrifugally slip cast to cover the mold
inner surface prior to the introduction of the BSCCO slip, and the mold
release layer facilitates removal of the BSCCO greenbody from the mold
without fracturing.