Abstract
The addition of a ductile phase to a porous ceramic can help overcome the brittleness of ceramics. Yet, most studies so far have focused on the processing and characterization of dense composites. Alternatively, unidirectional pores can improve the strength of porous ceramics. Here we combine the two approaches and show a simple processing strategy to obtain highly porous, unidirectional ceramic/polymer composites. We infiltrated ice-templated porous zirconia scaffolds with a polymer or a polymer solution. After centrifugation and evaporation of the solvent, porous ceramic composites with a porosity greater than 60% were obtained. Our results demonstrate that the addition of a ductile polymer (PCL) can increase both the strength and the toughness of the composites while maintaining a high porosity, whereas a brittle polymer (epoxy) has seemingly no impact on the fracture properties. This approach could provide porous materials that are easier to handle for biomedical applications.
Highlights
Porous ceramics are mostly used for their high permeability, low thermal conductivity, or open porosity which makes them useful in tissue engineering [1, 2], as catalyst supports [3], photocatalysis [4], oil/water separation [5], or in filtration applications [6]
The majority of the research has been focused on dense ceramics and comparatively little has been done on their porous counterparts
We characterized the effect of different experimental conditions on the mechanical response
Summary
Porous ceramics are mostly used for their high permeability, low thermal conductivity, or open porosity which makes them useful in tissue engineering [1, 2], as catalyst supports [3], photocatalysis [4], oil/water separation [5], or in filtration applications [6]. Their presence in technological fields where these functional properties have a crucial importance –energy harvesting, environment, or biomedicine– is still moderate. The majority of the research has been focused on dense ceramics and comparatively little has been done on their porous counterparts
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