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Abstract: Porous yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) ceramics with unidirectionally aligned pore channels were prepared by freezing YSZ/tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) slurry under different freezing temperatures of −30, −78 and −196°C, respectively. After removing the frozen TBA via freeze-drying in vacuum at −50°C, the green samples were sintered at 1450°C for 2h in air. The results showed that the freezing temperature significantly influenced microstructure and properties of the porous YSZ ceramics. Both microstructure observation and pore size distribution indicated that the pore channel size decreased significantly with decreasing freezing temperature, regardless of microstructure variations in the individual sample. Both porosity and room-temperature thermal conductivity of the porous YSZ ceramics varied under different freezing temperatures. Regardless of microstructure variations in the samples under different freezing temperatures, all samples had unidirectional pore channels with increasing pore channel size along the freezing direction. The fabricated samples had remarkably low thermal conductivities both in directions perpendicular and parallel to the channel direction, thus rendering them suitable for applications in thermal insulations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pure anorthite porous ceramics have been fabricated using γ-Al2O3, CaCO3, and SiO2 as raw materials through foam-gelcasting method. XRD, thermal analysis, SEM, and TEM were used to study the synthesis and grain growth of anorthite during the in situ process. The results indicated that the initiator (ammonium presulfate) took part in the chemical reaction to form CaSO4, which played an effective role during synthesis of anorthite. Besides, CaO and CaSiO2 were the other intermediate phase during synthesis. Anorthite first occurred at 1050°C, and it was the only phase after it sintered over 1260°C. With sintering temperature increasing from 1300°C to 1450°C, the large sphere pore wall got denser and the anorthite grains obviously showed platelike. It was deduced that the preferential growth of anorthite crystals was parallel to the (004) plane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, porous mullite/corundum ceramics with high porosity, high strength and low thermal conductivity were fabricated by foam-gelcasting method using fused mullite powder as raw material. Effects of sintering temperature on linear shrinkage, bulk density, apparent porosity, compressive strength and thermal conductivity of the porous mullite/corundum ceramics were researched. As sintering temperature increased from 1350 to 1550°C, linear shrinkage increased from 2.6 to 9.5%, porosity decreased from 81 to 78%, bulk density increased from 0.59 to 0.69g/cm3, compressive strength increased from 3.1 to 11.7MPa and thermal conductivity increased from 0.14 to 0.35W/m·K. Porous microstructure was complex, where large spherical pores contained small cellular pores on their internal walls. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]