Fabrication and characterization of porous mullite ceramics with ultra-low shrinkage and high porosity via sol-gel and solid state reaction methods

Abstract Porous mullite ceramics with ultra-low shrinkage and high porosity were prepared by solid state reaction between MoO3 and mullite precursor powders which were synthesized from tetraethylorthosilicate and aluminium nitrate nonahydrate via sol-gel methods. The synthetic process of mullite precursor powder and effects of MoO3 amount on the phase composition, microstructure, physical properties such as firing shrinkage, open porosity, bending strength, water absorption and bulk density of porous mullite ceramics were investigated. The results indicated that the addition of MoO3 not only lowered the mullite forming temperature from 985.4 to 853.3 °C, but also restrained densification behavior of samples due to the formation of mullite and Al2O3–MoO3 solid solution, besides, MoO3 also improves the formability, open porosity and bending strength of samples. The optimal amounts of MoO3 is 8 wt%, and the resultant samples exhibit outstanding properties, including a low shrinkage rate of 1.86 ± 0.07%, an open porosity of 61.91 ± 0.16% and a bending strength of 9.35 ± 1.11 MPa.