Correlations between pore structure parameters and gas permeability of corundum porous materials

Corundum porous materials with different contents of calcium hexaluminate formed in situ were prepared using pure calcium aluminate cement as the calcium source. The surface fractal dimensions of the porous materials were calculated based on the experimental data of mercury intrusion. Correlations between pore structural parameters and the permeability coefficients k(1) and k(2) of the porous materials were then studied based on the grey system theory. The results showed that pores in the corundum porous materials have great fractal characteristics. The surface fractal dimension was a significant pore structural parameter that reflected the complexity of pore shape, pore surface, and pore-size distribution, which had the maximum correlation coefficient with the permeability of this type of porous materials. The apparent porosity and pore-size distribution had relatively high correlation coefficients to the permeability as well. Increasing the apparent porosity and the volume percentage of larger pores, and decreasing the volume percentage of smaller pores all benefited the permeability of the porous materials. In addition, the mean pore size and median pore size showed lower correlation coefficients to the permeability-especially for porous materials with a wide pore-size distribution.