Publication: Formation of porous cordierite using corn starch and potato starch as pore former
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Date
2012-06-01
Authors
Lim, Yu Min
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Abstract
Porous cordierite is an advanced ceramic which is popular for its interesting properties such as excellent thermal stability, high refractoriness and low dielectric constant. In this study, samples have been prepared by the mixture of aluminium nitrate nonahydrate, magnesium nitrate hexahydrate, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), ethanol and nitric acid through sol-gel route followed by the addition of corn and potato starch as pore forming agent. The amount of pore forming agent added were varied according to their weight percent (5wt%, 10wt%, 15wt% and 20wt%). The solution was dried in oven at 90°C before sintered at 1350°C. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) and particle size analyzer are being used to characterize the properties of pore forming agents. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), porosity and density testing using Archimedes method were done on the produced samples. XRD results proved that all the samples produced were pure α-cordierite without the presence of other impurity or pore forming agent. From SEM results, samples using potato starch as the pore forming agent have pore size larger (11-14µm) than corn starch (6-7µm) due to the larger particle size of potato starch. Majority of the samples show interconnectivity among pores. The pore shape produced by potato starch is in prolate shape whereas for corn starch is in polyhedral shape. Density and porosity testing using Archimedes method shows that samples using potato starch as pore forming agent were more porous and less dense as compared with samples using corn starch. The porosity obtained for samples using potato starch and corn starch as pore former is in the range
of 16-54% and 13-46%, respectively.