Influence of prolonged sintering time on density and electrical properties of isothermally sintered cordierite-based ceramics

Mechanical activation is a commonly used and relatively fast and inexpensive procedure for sample preparation before the sintering process. Cordierite, a stoichiometric mixture of three different oxides (2MgO?2Al2O3?5SiO2) is a very attractive, widely used high-temperature ceramic material. The mechanical activation of the starting mixtures with 5.00 mass% TiO2 was performed in a high energy ball mill during 10-80 min. The applied compaction pressure before the sintering process was 2t/cm2, based on our recent investigation. The sintering process was performed at 1350oC for 2h and 4h in air atmosphere. X-ray diffraction was used to analyze the phase composition of non-activated and 80 min activated samples, sintered for 2 and 4h, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy was performed to analyze the microstructure of both compacted and sintered samples. Atomic force microscope was used to investigate the surface of the sintered samples. This paper investigates the influence of prolonged sintering time on the densities of the sintered samples, along with electrical properties.