Processing of particle stabilized Al2TiO5-ZrTiO4 foam to porous ceramics

Macroporous Al2TiO5-ZrTiO4 ceramics were synthesized from particle stabilized wet foam using direct foaming process. The initial suspension for Al2TiO5 (Molar ratio of Al2O3/TiO2 being 1:1) was prepared and a secondary suspension having a molar composition 1:1 ZrO2/TiO2 is blended to the initial suspension in (0, 10, 20, 30 and 50) vol%. The wet foam exhibits an air content of 79-87% and Laplace pressure from 1.38 to 2.23 mPa. It also exhibits adsorbtion free energy of about 2.62 x 10(-13) J to 10.27 x 10(-13) J, which results in irreversible adsorption of particles at the air-water interface, leading to outstanding foam stability of about 77-87%. The final suspension was foamed, dried at room temperature and thermal analysis (TGA-DTA) of the green specimens was carried out. After sintering at 1500 degrees C for 1 h, the obtained porous ceramics were subjected to phase identification using XRD, EDX and microstructural analyses were performed by FESEM. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.