Fabrication and technological properties of nanoporous spinel/forsterite/zirconia ceramic composites

Abstract : In this work, nanoporous spinel/forsterite/zirconia ceramic composites were fabricated at 1600 °C for 2 h. The influence of zirconia content (up to 10 mass%) on the technological properties, nanopores formation, phase compositions, microstructure and thermal diffusivity of nanoporous ceramic composites was investigated. Nanospinel and nanoforsterite powders were synthesized via a modified co-precipitation and sol-gel techniques, respectively. Results indicated that apparent porosity of the fired nanoporous ceramic composites is mostly in the range 14.26-56.14% with the average pores diameter 35.8 nm. Using of nanopowders (spinel and forsterite) as the staring materials were achieved high mechanical (cold crushing strength ∼ 235-164 MPa) and elastic (Young's modulus ∼ 123.6-4.5 GPa) properties of the prepared nanoporous ceramic composites. Microstructure analysis exhibited all of the crystalline phases and pores of the nanoporous ceramic composites are in the nanosize (35-40 nm). These nanoporous ceramic composites are promising porous ceramic materials for using in advanced applications due to their excellent combination properties.