Influences of composition of starting powders and sintering temperature on the pore size distribution of porous corundum-mullite ceramics

Porous corundum-mullite ceramics were prepared by an in-situ decomposition pore-forming technique. Starting powders were mixtures of milled Al(OH)3 and microsilica and were formed into oblong samples with a length of 100mm and a square cross-section with edge size of 20mm. The samples were heated at 1300°C, 1400°C, 1500°C or 1600°C for 3h in air atmosphere, respectively. Apparent porosity was detected by Archimedes’ Principle with water as a medium. Pore size distribution and the volume percentage of micropores were measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry. The results show that the pore morphology parameters in the samples depend on four factors: particle size distribution of starting powders, decomposition of Al(OH)3, the expansion caused by mullite and sintering. The optimum mode which has a higher apparent porosity up to 42.3%, well-distributed pores and more microsize pores up to 16.3% is sample No.3 and the most apposite sintering temperature of this sample is 1500°C