Low-temperature fabrication of Li2O porous ceramic pebbles by two-stage support decomposition

In this study, Li 2 O porous ceramic pebbles were synthesized by decomposing the xLi 2 CO 3 -yLiNO 3 precursor pebbles at low temperature. This efficient decomposition reaction was mainly attributed to the two-stage support decomposition of Li 2 CO 3 and LiNO 3 . The results indicated that the molar ratio of Li 2 CO 3 and LiNO 3 will directly affect the phase composition , pore structure and crush load of sintered pebbles. The high-purity Li 2 O ceramic pebbles sintered from Li 2 CO 3 –LiNO 3 precursor pebbles at 730 °C exhibits the open porosity of 24.8 ± 0.7%. The crush load of the ceramic reaches 21.18 ± 1.38 N although the structure was porous. The Li 2 O porous ceramics fabricated in this study will have potential application in tritium breeder materials.