Abstract
In this paper, a new type of porous ceramics was prepared using the raw sepiolite mineral. The porous ceramics was shaped by the dry pressing method and sintered in the range of 700 ~ 1200 °C. The temperature-microstructure evolution and the properties of porous sepiolite ceramics were investigated by thermo gravimetric and differential thermal analyses (TG-DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), bending strength, compressive strength, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimeter (MIP). The sintering kinetics of the porous ceramics from sepiolite was investigated by means of stepwise isothermal dilatometry (SID). The mechanical properties improved with the increasing sintering temperature, and the bending strength and compression strength reached a maximum of 52 MPa and 32 MPa respectively at 1200 °C. The porosity increased with the sintering temperature until 1100 °C attaining the value of 55.40% and then decreased to a value of 46.48% at 1200 °C. The main crystal phases of the porous ceramics were akermanite and diopside. At 1200 °C, the pores inside the ceramics basically follows a unimodal distribution, which was mainly located near 553 nm. The sintering activation energy of porous sepiolite ceramics was measured by step isothermal thermal expansion with a value of 791.42 kJ/mol in the range of 1000 °C to 1200 °C.