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Synthesis of Ultrafine β″‐Alumina Powders via Flame Spray Pyrolysis of Polymeric Precursors
Author(s) -
Sutorik Anthony C.,
Neo Siew Siang,
Treadwell David R.,
Laine Richard M.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.1998.tb02506.x
Subject(s) - materials science , ethylene glycol , sintering , combustion , pyrolysis , chemical engineering , spray pyrolysis , thermal spraying , phase (matter) , stoichiometry , spray drying , nuclear chemistry , doping , metallurgy , organic chemistry , chemistry , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , engineering , coating
Flame spray pyrolysis of a polymeric precursor is used to prepare ultrafine powders that, when sintered, convert to essentially pure phase lithium‐doped sodium β″‐alumina. The precursor Na 1.67 Al 10.67 Li 0.33 [N(CH 2 CH 2 O) 3 ] 10.67 ‐[OCH 2 CH 2 O]·x(HOCH 2 CH 2 OH) has been synthesized from stoichiometric amounts of metal hydroxides and tri‐ethanolamine (N(CH 2 CH 2 OH) 3 , TEA) in excess ethylene glycol. The precursor is dissolved in ethanol, and an atom‐ized spray of the solution is combusted in a specially con‐structed flame spray apparatus. Combustion occurs at ∼2000°C, followed by immediate quenching. This proce‐dure provides for a measure of kinetic control over the process. The resulting nanopowder particles are 50–150 nm in diameter and exhibit powder X‐ray diffractometry pat‐terns similar to β″‐alumina. Heating the nanopowder at 30°C/min to 1200°C with a 1 hisotherm converts it to pure β″‐alumina. In preliminary sintering studies, green powder compacts (∼65% theoretical density) sintered at 1600°C for 12 min densify to 3.0 ± 0.1 g/cm 3 (∼92% theoretical density) with minimal loss of Na 2 O. This procedure offers several processing and cost advantages over conventional β″‐alumina syntheses.