Porous ceramics have the advantages of low density, low thermal conductivity, and excellent mechanical properties. Among porous ceramic manufacturing methods, the replica template method allows the easy manufacturing of porous filters with the highest porosity and pores of the desired size, but it also has the disadvantage that the resulting filters have low mechanical strength. To overcome this shortcoming, mullite (3Al2O3·2SiO2) whiskers, which have excellent thermal stability and high mechanical strength, were introduced in porous ceramic structure. The mullite whiskers were synthesized using a composition of Al2O3, flyash and MoO3. The morphologies and crystal structures of the mullite whiskers with MoO3 contents were investigated in detail. When the porous ceramic with mullite whiskers was fabricated using 20 wt% MoO3 catalyst the most uniform microstructure was obtained, and the mullite whiskers showed the highest aspect ratio of 47.03. The porosity and compressive strength of the fabricated porous ceramic were 82.12% and 0.83 MPa, respectively.

Cordierite composed of an alumina-silica-magnesia compound has a low coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE) and excellent thermal shock resistance. It also has a low dielectric constant and high electrical insulation. However, due to low mechanical strength, it is limited for use in a ceramic heater. In this study, ZrO2 is added to an 80 wt% cordierite-20 wt% mullite composition, and the effect of ZrO2 addition on the mechanical strength and thermal shock resistance is investigated. With an increasing addition of ZrO2, cordierite-mullite formed ZrO2, ZrSiO4 and spinel phases. With sintering conducted at 1400 °C with the addition of 5 wt% ZrO2 to 80 wt% cordierite-20 wt% mullite, the most dense microstructure forms along with an excellent mechanical strength with a 3-point flexural strength of 238MPa. When this composition is quenched in water at ΔT = 400℃ , the 3-point flexural strength is maintained. Moreover, when this composition is cooled from 800℃ to air, the 3-point flexural strength is maintained even after 100 cycles. In addition, the CTE is measured as 3.00 × 10−6·K−1 at 1000℃ . Therefore, 80 wt% cordierite-20 wt% mullite with 5 wt% ZrO2 is considered to be appropriate as material for a ceramic heater.

In order to fabricate porous mullite ceramics with controlled pore structure and improved mechanical strength, a freeze casting route has been processed using camphene mixed with tertiary-butyl alcohol (TBA) and coal fly ash/alumina as the solvent and the ceramic material, respectively. After sintering, the solidification characteristics of camphene and TBA solvent were evident in the pore morphology, i.e., dendritic and straight pore channels formed along the solidification directions of camphene and TBA ice, respectively, after sublimation. Also, the presence of microcracks was observed in the bodies sintered at 1500 oC, mainly due to the difference in solidification volume change between camphene and TBA. The compressive strength of the sintered bodies was found generally to be dependent, in an inverse manner, on the porosity, which was mainly determined by the processing conditions. After sintering at 1300~1500 oC with 30~50 wt% solid loading, the resulting mullite ceramics showed porosity and compressive strength values in ranges of 83.8~43.1% and 3.7~206.8 MPa, respectively.

A1 분말의 첨가량을 변화시킨 알루미나 쉘 몰드를 제조하여 소성조건에 따른 알루미나/실리카의 뮬라이트화 거동을 관찰하였다. 알루미나/실리카의 뮬라이트화 반응은 소성온도 및 A1 함량의 증가에 따라 증대함을 알 수 있었으나 쉘 몰드의 상온강도는 감소하였다. 각 소성조건에서 측정된 쉘 강도는 2.0~2.6kg/mm2임을 알 수 있었다. Al의 첨가는 고온에서 쉘 몰드의 변형을 억제시켰다. 특히 2.5wt%%의 Al을 첨가한 후 1000˚C에서 1시간 유지한 시편에서는 변형이 일어나지 않았으며, 또한 Al을 첨가하지 않은 시편을 1500˚C에서 4시간동안 소성한 시편에서도 변형이 일어나지 않음을 알 수 있었다.

Al(OH)3와 비정질 SiO2를 출발원료로 사용하여 반응소결을 통한 다공성 뮬라이트를 제조하였다. Al(OH)3와 SiO2의 몰비를 뮬라이트의 화학양론적 조성과 실리카와 얄루미나가 많은 조성으로 변화시키고, 각 조성에 AlF3를 0, 1, 5, 10wt% 첨가하여 뮬라이트의 생성에 미치는 조성과 첨가제의 영향을 살펴보았다. 첨가한 AlF3의 양이 많아질수록 낮은 온도에서 뮬라이트가 생성됨을 보였고, 첨가된 AlF3의 양이 5wt%인 경우, 화학량론적 뮬라이트 조성에서 율라이트가 1250˚C에서부터 생성되기 시작하였으 며 1300˚C 이상 열처리한 경우 충분히 발달한 침상형의 다공성 뮬라이트가 합성되었다. AlF3의 양이 5wt% 이상 첨가한 경우 열 처리 온도의 영향은 크게 나타나지 않았으며, 소성체의 수축도 거의 일어냐지 않았다.