Phase evolution and properties of novel Al2O3-based poly-hollow microsphere (PHM) ceramics

Abstract

In this paper, novel Al2O3-based poly-hollow microsphere (PHM) ceramics were prepared using Si3N4 and Al2O3 PHMs as pore-forming agents. The effect of Si3N4 and Al2O3 PHMs with different percentages on properties of Al2O3-based PHM ceramics was investigated. Through adjusting percentage of Al2O3 PHMs, Al2O3-based PHM ceramics with enhanced properties are achieved. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show that main phases of Al2O3-based PHM ceramics vary from β-SiAlON (z value increases from 2.9 to 4) to Al2O3 with the increase of percentage of Al2O3 PHMs from 10% to 100%. The different phase compositions result in different properties of Al2O3-based PHM ceramics. With the increase of percentage of Al2O3 PHMs, porosity of Al2O3-based PHM ceramics gradually decreases, while their shrinkage, flexural strength, and fracture toughness firstly decrease and then increase. Using different kinds of ceramic PHMs as pore-forming agents, various novel and high-performance porous ceramics could be prepared via optimizing percentage of ceramic PHMs in the future.