OBTENÇÃO DE CERÂMICAS DE ALUMINA COM GRADIENTE FUNCIONAL DE POROSIDADE A PARTIR DE DIFERENTES TÉCNICAS

Abstract

In this study, preparation and characterization of alumina ceramic materials with functional porosity gradients were performed. Freeze casting of alumina slurries, using water as the chosen solvent, and sacrificial phase method using corn starch as sacrificial phase, were implemented. The materials used to produce the samples were alumina and analytical purity corn starch. Porosity characteristics were investigated concerning pore morphology, pore distribution in the ceramic matrix and processing route interference in pore formation. The evaluation of porosity was made utilizing porosity determination methods as mercury intrusion and Archimedes method with water as immersion liquid. The mechanical properties, as well as the fracture mode, were investigated during uniaxial compressive test in a universal testing machine. Using the images obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), it was possible to correlate the data obtained in the porosimetry analysis with the mechanical response obtained from the material. In terms of porosity, the results between the processing routes reveal considerable differences in pore distribution and quantity of pores. However, the pore sizes obtained for both methods were pretty close to each other. The mechanical strength during compressive stress was higher in the samples produced via sacrificial phase method, but those samples failed catastrophically. Freeze casting samples, on the other hand, had lower mechanical resistance and their fractures were directly influenced by several factors during their assembly processing. The pore and microstructure morphology presented by both methods were direct consequence of the processing route used. In the samples produced by freeze casting, pore channels were observed. The samples produced via sacrificial phased method using corn starch presented unconnected rounded pores.