Fabrication and potential application of macroporous ceramic materials/structures through chemical sintering

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The objectives of the proposed research are to explore chemical sintering of porous ceramic materials, a process newly developed from our research, and possible engineering applications of the porous ceramics being developed. Ceramics are traditionally sintered under high temperatures and pressures to avoid pores because of their inherently brittle nature. However, an increasing number of applications require porous ceramics. Such applications include for example the filtration of molten metals, high-temperature thermal insulation, support for catalytic reactions, filtration of particulates from diesel engine exhaust gases, and filtration of hot corrosive gases in various industrial processes. The advantages of using porous ceramics in these applications are usually the high melting point, tailored electronic properties, high corrosion, and wear resistance in combination with the features gained by the replacement of solid material by voids in the component. Such features include low thermal mass, low thermal conductivity, controlled permeability, high surface area, low density, high specific strength, and low dielectric constant. This proposed research will focus on a new cost-effective technique recently developed from our research, which involves chemical reactions and phase transformations of oxides and/or carbides, to form macro-porous ceramic structures. Preliminary tests have shown that the porous ceramics has a pore density of about 77% and a narrow pore size range with a mean value at about 1 micrometer. Scope of the research will include the extension of the new technique to form different types of porous ceramics structures and the use of the porous ceramics for various engineering applications.