This study successfully prepared high-porosity aluminosilicate fibrous porous ceramics through vacuum suction filtration using aluminosilicate fiber as the primary raw material and glass powder as binder, with the appropriate incorporation of glass fiber. The effects of the composition of raw materials and sintering process on the structure and properties of the material were studied. The results show that when the content of glass powder reached 20 wt% and the samples were sintered at the temperature of 1,000 °C, strong bonds were formed between the binder phase and fibers, resulting in a compressive strength of 0.63 MPa. When the sintering temperatures were increased from 1,000 °C to 1,200, the open porosity of the samples decreased from 89.08 % to 82.38 %, while the linear shrinkage increased from 1.13 % to 10.17 %. Meanwhile, during the sintering process, a large amount of cristobalite and mullite were precipitated from the aluminosilicate fibers, which reduced the performance of the aluminosilicate fibers and hindered the comprehensive improvement in sample performance. Based on these conditions, after adding 30 wt% glass fiber and being sintered at 1,000 °C, the sample exhibited higher compressive strength (1.34 MPa), higher open porosity (89.13 %), and lower linear shrinkage (5.26 %). The aluminosilicate fibrous porous ceramic samples exhibited excellent permeability performance due to their high porosity and interconnected three-dimensional pore structures. When the samples were filtered at a flow rate of 150 mL/min, the measured pressure drop and permeability were 0.56 KPa and 0.77 × 10-6 m2 respectively.

Porous mullite-corundum ceramics were prepared using organic foam impregnation method with alumina and silica as raw materials. The influence of alkaline treatment and surfactant modification on polyurethane foam were studied. Effects of sintering process and material composition on porous mullite-corundum ceramics were investigated. The results show that the hang-pulp quantity of polyurethane foam increases with alkaline treatment. After treatment with 3 wt% SDS solution, the hang-pulp quantity of polyurethane foam further improved. Open porosity of sample decreased with elevation of sintering temperature and holding time, and compressive strength of sample showed a trend opposite to the change of porosity. The open porosity of the sample was enhanced by the increase of m(Al2O3/SiO2); the compressive strength decreased with increase of m(Al2O3/SiO2). However, when m(Al2O3/SiO2) was 2.5, the compressive strength of the sample reached 6.23 MPa, and the open porosity of the sample was 80.7 %.

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.

Macroporous ceramics with tailored pore size and shape could be used for well-established and emerging applications, such as molten metal filtration, biomaterial, catalysis, thermal insulation, hot gas filtration and diesel particulate filters. In these applications, unique properties of porous materials were required which could be achieved through the incorporation of macro-pores into ceramics. In this article, we reviewed the main processing techniques which can be used for the fabrication of macroporous ceramics with tailored microstructure. Partial sintering, replica templates, sacrificial fugutives, and direct foaming techniques was described here and compared in terms of microstructures and mechanical properties that could be achieved. The main focus was given to the direct foaming technique which was simple and versatile approach that allowed the fabrication of macro-porous ceramics with tailored features and properties.

In this study, a novel-processing route for fabricating microcellular zirconia ceramics has been developed. The proposed strategy for making the microcellula zirconia ceramics involved hollow microspheres as pore former. Compared to conventional dense microspheres pore former, well-defined pore structured zirconia ceramics were successfully fabricated. Effects of hollow microsphere content and sintering temperature on microstructure, porosity, pore distribution, and strength were investigated in the processing of microcellular zirconia ceramics.

As a pore precursor, carbon black with different content of 0 to 60 vol% were added to (Ba,Sr) powder. Porous (Ba,Sr) ceramics were prepared by pressureless sintering at for 1h under air. Effects of carbon black content on the microstructure and PTCR characteristics of porous (Ba,Sr) ceramics were investigated. The porosity of porous (Ba,Sr) ceramics increased from 6.97% to 18.22% and the grain size slightly decreased from to with increasing carbon black contents. PTCR jump of the (Ba,Sr) ceramics prepared by adding carbon black was more than , and slightly increased with increasing carbon black. The PTCR jump in the (Ba,Sr) ceramics prepared by adding 40 vol% carbon black showed an excellent value of , which was above two times higher than that in (Ba,Sr) ceramics. These results correspond with Heywang model for the explanation of PTCR effect in (Ba,Sr) ceramics. It was considered that carbon black is an effective additive for preparing porous based ceramics. It is believed that newly prepared (Ba,Sr) cermics can be used for PTC thermistor.

The deformation behavior under three-point bend test was found to depend on the loading uniformity and the macrostructure for SiC reticulated porous ceramics (RPCs). However, this dependence of loading uniformity is alleviated by improved macrostructure with fewer flaws and clogged pores. Even, this dependence becomes less important as the struts become thicker and stronger. The bend result of RPCs with highly uniform macrostructure is in excellent agreement with the GA (Gibson and Ashby) model, but the one with un-uniform macrostructure deviates from the GA model, suggesting that the macrostructure plays an important role in deformation behavior of RPCs under bend.

Using as sintering additives and Si as a raw powder, the continuously porous in-situ bodies were fabricated by multi-pass extrusion process and their microstructures were investigated depending on the addition of carbon (0-9wt%) in the mixture powder. The introduction of fibers observed in the unidirectional continuous pores as well as in the pore-frame regions of the nitrided bodies can be an effective method in increasing the filtration efficiency. In the case of no carbon addition, the network type fibers with high aspect ratio appeared in the continuous pores with diameters of 150-200 nm. However, in the case of 9wt% C addition, the fibers were found without any network type and had diameters of 200-250 nm.

This study was conducted to investigate the removal characteristics of heavy metals and sulfate ion from acid mine drainage by porous zeolite-slag ceramics (ZS ceramics) that was prepared by adding wood flour as pore-foaming agent while calcining the mixtures of natural zeolite and converter slag. The batch test showed that the removal efficiency of heavy metals by pellet-type porous ZS ceramics increased as the particle size of wood flour was decreased and as the weight mixing ratio of wood flour to ZS ceramics was increased. The optimal particle size and weight mixing ratio of wood flour were measured to be 75 ㎛ and 7∼10%, respectively. The removal test with the porous ZS ceramics prepared in these optimal condition showed very high removal efficiencies: more than 98.4% for all heavy metals and 73.9% for sulfate ion. Relative to nonporous ZS ceramics, the increment of removal efficiency of heavy metals by porous ZS ceramics with 75 ㎛ and 10% wood flour was 5.8%, 60.5%, 36.9%, 87.7%, 10.3%, and 57.4% for Al, Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn, respectively. The mechanism analysis of removal by the porous ZS ceramics suggested that the heavy metals and sulfate ion from acid mine drainage are eliminated by multiple reactions such as adsorption and/or ion exchange as well as precipitation and/or co-precipitation.