Preparation Of Porous Alumina Ceramics Research Articles

Reusing Waste Coffee Grounds in the Preparation of Porous Alumina Ceramics

Porous ceramics can be used in various industrial applications, such as thermal insulation, orthopedic implants, high-temperature filtration, lightweight structural components, and catalyst supports, etc., and can be obtained using various methods. In this study, the sacrificial fugitive method was used to prepare a porous alumina ceramic. The appropriate amount of sacrificial fugitive was combined with raw ceramic powder as a pore-forming agent, and was then evaporated or burned out either before or during the sintering process to create the desired pores. Various materials can be used as pore-forming agents; in this work, eco-friendly waste coffee grounds (WCG) were utilized. First, alumina ceramic green bodies were prepared via slip casting of 60 wt. % alumina suspensions with five different amounts of WCG (0 wt. %, 1 wt. %, 5 wt. %, 10 wt. % and 15 wt. %) and the dispersant Dolapix (0.2 wt. %), and using PVA (0.5 wt. %) as a binder for all solutions. The effect of the various amounts of WCG on the alumina ceramic green bodies, and subsequently on the obtained sintered ceramics, was tracked and validated through different analyses. Suspension viscosity was determined through a rotational viscometer. Simultaneous differential thermal and thermogravimetric (DTA/TGA) analyses were used to observe the thermal decomposition of WCG and to determine the sintering regime. After sintering, the density, porosity, and shrinkage of the samples were examined and calculated. In addition, the phase composition and crystallite size of all sintered samples were determined by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis, as well as their morphology and composition using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The results show that density decreased from 3.743 to 2.172 g/cm3 and porosity increased from 6.12% to 45.52%, both with the increasing amount of WCG (from 0 wt. % to 15 wt. %).

The preparation and characterization of porous alumina ceramics using an eco‐friendly pore‐forming agent

AbstractThis work presents the preparation of porous alumina ceramics through the sacrificial phase method, using an eco‐friendly material, namely waste coffee grounds, as a pore‐forming agent. The effects of coffee grounds content in the green ceramic bodies on the linear and volumetric shrinkage, as well as the total and open porosity of the sintered product, were evaluated. The influence of the resulting porosity on mechanical properties of the prepared porous alumina was determined using Brazilian disk compression test for the determination of the indirect tensile strength of the prepared samples. Microstructure and pores morphology were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Porosities in the range 35‐54 vol% were achieved, by varying the coffee grounds content from 0 to 50 wt% in the green bodies. The indirect tensile strength of the final obtained porous alumina ceramic decreased accordingly from 57.4 MPa to 17.7 MPa.

Design and formulation of polyurethane foam used for porous alumina ceramics

The present work studied a simple direct foaming method for preparation of porous alumina ceramics by expansion of a ceramic suspension based on polyurethane (PU) foam system. The effects of polyurethane formulas including catalyst composition, blowing agent content, NCO index and solid content on the samples properties were investigated. The results showed that the homogeneity, porosity and mechanical properties are various for different formulas. The dried green bodies showed diametrical compressive strength in the range of 0.39–1.25 MPa and were amenable to machining operations such as milling, drilling and lathing. Meanwhile, PU formulas play an important role in the microstructures and mechanical properties of green bodies and sintered ceramic foams. Pyrolytic removal of polyurethane skeleton followed by sintering at 1550 °C produced alumina bodies with open cell porosity 54–75% and diametrical compressive strength 1.39–28.47 MPa. Microstructure showed both large (200–300 μm) and small (50–100 μm) pores all with various sizes of windows. Based on the optimization of polyurethane formulation, the porous alumina foam with porosity of 64% and compressive strength of 25.26 MPa was prepared. This polyurethane foam system is easily available and low-cost, which could be widely applied in preparation of other porous ceramics, such as ZrO2, SiO2, etc.

Investigating the effect of SPRM on mechanical strength and thermal conductivity of highly porous alumina ceramics

For recycling waste refractory materials in metallurgical industry, porous alumina ceramics were prepared via pore forming agent method from α-Al2O3 powder and slide plate renewable material. Effects of slide plate renewable material (SPRM) on densification, mechanical strength, thermal conductivity, phase composition and microstructure of the porous alumina ceramics were investigated. The results showed that SPRM effectively affected physical and thermal properties of the porous ceramics. With the increase of SPRM, apparent porosity of the ceramic materials firstly increased and then decreased, which brought an opposite change for the bulk density and thermal conductivity values, whereas the bending strength didn’t decrease obviously. The optimum sample A2 with 50wt% SPRM introducing sintered at 1500°C obtained the best properties. The water absorption, apparent porosity, bulk density, bending strength and thermal conductivity of the sample were 31.7%, 62.8%, 1.71g/cm3, 47.1 ± 3.7MPa and 1.73W/mK, respectively. XRD analysis indicated that a small quantity of silicon carbide and graphite in SPRM have been oxidized to SiO2 during the firing process, resulting in rising the porous microstructures. SEM micrographs illustrated that rod-like mullite grains combined with plate-like corundum grains to endow the samples with high bending strength. This study was intended to confirm the preparation of porous alumina ceramics with high porosity, good mechanical properties and low thermal conductivity by using SPRM as pore forming additive.

Viscosity Study to Optimize a Slurry of Alumina Mixed with Hollow Microspheres

Porous alumina ceramics are involved in many industrial applications due to the exceptional properties of these products. This study addresses the preparation of porous alumina ceramics using hollow microspheres as a pore-forming agent and slip casting as a green-body-forming technique. A uniform distribution of pores is a basic requirement of a porous material. This study investigates three different slurry systems, i.e., as-prepared alumina slurry, alumina slurry electrostatically dispersed by hydrochloric acid (HCl), and slurry dispersed by the commercial dispersant ‘Darvan C-N’. At a low viscosity, the hollow microspheres in the slurry tend to float, which causes a non-uniform pore distribution. To avoid this phenomenon, the viscosity of the slurry was increased to the extent that the movement of hollow microspheres ceased in the slurry. As a result, a uniform pore distribution was achieved.

Dispersion and Setting of Powder Suspensions in Concentrated Aqueous Urea Solutions for the Preparation of Porous Alumina Ceramics with Aligned Pores

Highly concentrated alumina powder suspensions have been prepared in aqueous urea solutions of concentrations in the range 200–360 g/100 mL using an ammonium poly(acrylate) dispersant at 80°C. The dispersant concentration for the suspension viscosity minimum in the urea solutions is higher than that in water due to the higher processing temperature. The urea solutions having higher dielectric constant than that of water offer higher interparticle potential that resulted in better dispersion of the powder as evidenced from the lower viscosity and yield stress of the suspensions. The decrease in temperature increased the suspension viscosity and the suspension formed a strong gel when cooled to room temperature due to the crystallization of urea. The minimum urea solution concentration for a 55 vol% alumina suspension to form a dimensionally stable gel is 240 g/100 mL. The compressive strength and Young's modulus of the gels increased with the increase in urea solution concentration. The alumina ceramics prepared by the urea removal followed by sintering at 1500°C had porosity in the range 28–36 vol% with the rectangular rod-shaped aligned pores.

A urea crystal templating method for the preparation of porous alumina ceramics with the aligned pores

Abstract A novel process for the preparation of porous alumina ceramics with an aligned pore structure has been reported. The urea dissolved in the aqueous alumina slurry at higher temperature formed rod shaped crystals aligned in the direction of gravity when cooled to room temperature. The gelatin used to set the slurry, controls the crystallization of urea such that the urea crystals produced in the suspension containing the gelatin had much lower width and thickness compared to that produced in the suspension without the gelatin. The alumina powder catalyzed the thermal decomposition of urea that enabled the removal of the majority of the urea crystals from the alumina green body by isothermal heating at temperature much lower than the melting point of urea. The void space created by the removal of the urea crystals remained as pores in the sintered ceramics.

Process control and optimized preparation of porous alumina ceramics by starch consolidation casting

This work concerns details of porosity and pore size control in starch consolidation casting of alumina ceramics using corn starch. In particular, the influence of the solids loading (68–78 wt.% alumina in suspensions with nominal starch contents of 20–50 vol.%) on the porosity, bulk density and shrinkage of alumina ceramics is studied. The results indicate a linear decrease of the linear shrinkage and the bulk density (and a corresponding increase in porosity) as the alumina concentration increases, with slopes that are independent of the starch content. The pore size is characterized via microscopic image analysis, the pore throat size via mercury porosimetry. Relations between the volumetric shrinkage, porosity and the volume fractions of starch and water in the suspensions are discussed, and a new concept, called “affine limit porosity” is proposed to explain the apparently paradoxical finding that the porosity increases with increasing alumina content in the suspension.

Starch as a Pore‐forming and Body‐forming Agent in Ceramic Technology

AbstractWheat and corn starch can be used for the preparation of porous alumina ceramics via the SCC (starch consolidation casting) process, resulting in porosities ranging from > 20% to approx. 50% (using nominal starch contents of 10 – 50%, v/v), with open porosity dominating (closed porosity < 6.5%). The character of porosity and the shape of the pores corresponds to the starch granules used, but the pore size is determined by a complex interplay between starch swelling (during the body‐forming step) and pore shrinkage (during sintering of the ceramic). Typically, for low starch contents (e.g. nominal starch contents of around 10%, v/v) starch swelling is a significant effect, and the pores after sintering are larger than the size of the starch granules. For higher starch contents swelling is constrained (by limited space and/ or water availability), and the matrix shrinkage during sintering overcompensates the swelling effect, so that the final pores in the ceramic can be significantly smaller than the original starch granule size. In this paper it is shown how porosity is related to pore size. In particular, it is demonstrated that the porosity indirectly determined from image analysis (via the median pore size) is closely related to the porosity directly measured via the Archimedes method. On the other hand, mercury porosimetry measures the distribution of pore throat sizes. With increasing starch content in the suspension, the pore throat size in the as‐fired ceramic materials increases, resulting in a more open microstructure.

Preparation of Porous Alumina Ceramics with Oriented Pores Using Various Fibers

Preparation of Porous Alumina Ceramics with Oriented Pores Using Various Fibers

Preparation of Porous Alumina Ceramics by Spark Plasma Sintering

Porous alumina bodies were successfully prepared by spark plasma sintering of alumina powders with different amounts of graphite, and by subsequently burning out the graphite. Highly porous bodies were fabricated by spark plasma sintering at 1000°C for 3 min under a pressure of 30 MPa. The heating rate was 80°C/min, and the pulse pattern (on-off) was 12:2. For example, alumina bodies prepared by the addition of 10 ~ 30 vol% graphite showed high porosity of 50 ~ 57%. Porous alumina bodies prepared by the addition of 10 ~ 30 vol% graphite had a high compressive strength of 200 ± 55 MPa, about 35 times higher than those obtained on samples prepared by pressureless sintering, and about 2.5 times higher than those in samples prepared by hot-pressing. The significant improvement in strength relative to values obtained with conventional sintering was attributed to better sintering resulting from the rapid heating between particles.

Extrusion method using nylon 66 fibers for the preparation of porous alumina ceramics with oriented pores

Porous alumina ceramics with unidirectionally oriented pores were prepared using an extrusion method. The paste for extrusion was prepared by mixing alumina and nylon 66 fibers with binder and dispersant. The resulting paste was extruded, dried at room temperature, and after removal of the binder at 600 °C, fired at 1500 °C for 2 h. The pore size in the sintered body, determined from SEM micrographs, was 16 μm, corresponding to the size of the burnt-out nylon 66 fibers. The degree of orientation of the cylindrical pores was evaluated from SEM micrographs to be highly aligned to the extrusion direction. The orientation of the pores decreased with increasing fiber loading because of strong interaction between the fibers. The pore size distribution of the extruded samples showed a peak at 16 μm corresponding to the cylindrical pore diameter and also at 4 and 6 μm corresponding to the pores formed by connection of the fibers.

Preparation of Porous Alumina Ceramics by Using the Gelation of Ammonium Alginate

The gelation of ammonium alginate by hydrochloric acid was applied for the formation of gel-like precursor composed of alumina particles and alginic polymer. The porous alumina ceramics fired at temperatures from 1000° to 1600°C had very sharp pore size distributions. Their porosity ranged from 17 to 56%, which was 15 to 20% higher compared with that of porous alumina prepared by the slip casting method. Furthermore, the pore structure was more stable at high temperatures than that of the slip casting method. The optimum concentration of ammonium alginate for the uniform mixing of each raw material was 0.3 to 2.0wt%. The concentration of hydrochloric acid was over 0.1N for the sufficient gelation of the gel-like precursor.