Effects of starch addition amount on microstructure, mechanical properties and room temperature thermal conductivity of porous Y2SiO5 ceramics

Y2SiO5 ceramics were prepared by dry pressing and pressureless sintering using different amount of starch addition as pore-forming agent. With the starch addition amount increases from 10 to 40 wt%, the relative density for porous Y2SiO5 ceramics ranges from 70.4% to 38.3%, the mean pore size ranges from 1.02 to 2.01 μm, the compressive strength ranges from 28.25 to 1.43 MPa, and the room temperature thermal conductivities ranges from 0.81 to 0.18 W/m K. The relatively high strength and low thermal conductivity of porous Y2SiO5 ceramics are believed to be useful for future high-temperature insulating applications.