Determination of Mechanical Properties of Composite Supports Used in Catalytic Membranes for Hydrogen Production and Separation

This study includes the determination of mechanical properties involving equibiaxial flexural strength, elastic modulus, strain and hardness for composite supports developed to be used in catalytic membranes in order to produce and separate hydrogen. Composite supports are fabricated by mixing acidic, neutral and basic activated alumina types and sodium silicate binder. Three different Si/Al ratios are employed in the study. After preparing the support samples, they are calcined at the temperatures of 600 degrees C and 1200 degrees C for 11 hours and 22 hours respectively. At the end of calcination, equibiaxial flexural strength, elastic modulus, strain, hardness and solid density of supports are tested for both temperatures. Generally, higher mechanical properties and solid density results are obtained at 600 degrees C and it is found that neutral alumina gives the best mechanical properties and solid density for Si/Al ratio of 0.648 at 600 degrees C.