The Effect of SiO_2 and Na_2O Content on the Sintering Behavior of Calcined Specialty Aluminas for the Ceramics Industry

摘要

The ceramics industry encompasses a wide variety of applications, including advanced ceramics, technical ceramics, honeycomb ceramics, spark plugs, high voltage insulators, wear parts and many more. Calcined alumina is a commonly used raw material in all of these ceramic applications due to its robust mechanical, electrical, thermal and chemical properties. These properties are highly dependent on the physical and chemical characteristics of the alumina itself. Therefore, the focus of this research was to evaluate the role of chemical characteristics on the physical and mechanical properties of four commercially available calcined reactive aluminas. Specifically, this work aims to quantify the effect of the trace impurities SiO_2 and Na_2O, on alumina shrinkage, shrinkage rate, sintereddensity and flexural strength.