Caracterização mecânica e microestrutural de cerâmicas porosas obtidas a partir de diferentes aluminas

Abstract

The interest in porous ceramics is increasing, as new processes and technologies are going to be developed and hence applications represent technological and economical opportunities. For each application, there is at least one important property that must be evaluated, depending on its function: physical, chemical and biological. There are many applications for porous ceramics bodies, such as: battery fuel cell separators, burners, catalyst supports, filters, gas sensors, etc. Alumina is a wild raw material used because of its properties, such as high hardness, high wear resistance, low friction coefficient, high resistance to corrosion at room temperature and at high temperature on air, the absence of transformations within the entire temperature range of solid state, and the fact that the material retains its strength even at very high temperatures (1500ºC – 1800ºC). This research describes the evaluation of some mechanical properties of alumina (Al2O3) with different levels of porosity obtained by the polymeric sponge method and by adding polymeric wax at 1450ºC and 1550ºC. Flexural strength and hardness were assessed using ASTM specifications. Apparent porosity, apparent density, linear shrinkage after sintering, linear shrinkage after drying and water absorption by Souza Santos clay method. Data showed to be satisfactory, where it was shown that porous ceramic bodies had flexural strength and hardness values corroborating with literature. Analyses were performed by x – rays diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) for both samples made by each method. In a general way, both samples made by each method had a similar behavior; however, samples made by adding polymeric wax presented less porosity homogeneity than those made by polymeric sponge method, and showed better sinterization at both temperatures either.