Effective reduction of sintering temperature and breakage ratio for a low‐cost ceramic proppant by feldspar addition

Abstract The second grade bauxite and feldspar were used to synthesize ceramic proppant materials. Phase structure and microstructure of the samples were studied by X‐ray diffraction ( XRD ) and scanning electron microscopy ( SEM ), respectively. It was found that the feldspar, as a sintering aid, was beneficial to generate liquid phase during the sintering process. The formed liquid phase, not only promoted the densification of the samples, but also reduced the sintering temperature. With the content of feldspar increasing, the sintering temperature gradually decreased. When the content of feldspar was 4 wt.%, the breakage ratio of the samples was reduced to the lowest level of 2.2% at 1400°C under 52 MPa closed pressure, which met the requirement of Chinese Petroleum and Gas Industry Standard (SY/T 5108‐2014). Moreover, the sintering temperature was reduced by 100°C compared with the proppants without adding feldspar.