Effect of Sintering Temperature on the Structures and Properties of Porous Aluminium Titanate Ceramics

Porous aluminium titanate ceramics with high porosity were prepared by foam-gelcasting process and pressureless sintering using alumina and titanium dioxide powder as raw material and deionized water as solvent. Microstructure and phase composition of the prepared materials were analyzed by SEM and XRD. Properties such as porosity and thermal conductivity were tested. Effects of sintering temperature on phase composition, microstructure and properties of the porous aluminium titanate ceramics were researched. As the sintering temperature increases to 1550 degrees C, all peaks of the diffraction pattern can not be indexed except that of taluminium titanate. With the increasing of sintering temperature to between 1400 and 1600 degrees C, linear shrinkage of porous aluminium titanate changes little, open porosity varies between 68.6% and 73.9% and thermal conductivity changes from 0.24 to 0.37 W.(m-K)(-1).