Novel stabilized aluminum titanate whiskers

Herein, novel stabilized aluminum titanate whiskers were prepared via the molten salt method using alumina as the aluminum source, titania as the titanium source, magnesium carbonate as the stabilizer, and sodium molybdate as the molten salt. The influence of the amount of molten salt on the one-dimensional selectivity of the stabilized aluminum titanate whiskers was examined using XRD, SEM, TEM and other established testing methods, and the growth mechanism of aluminum titanate whiskers was discussed. The results confirmed that an excessive or insufficient amount of molten salt sodium molybdate is not conducive to the preparation of stabilized aluminum titanate whiskers. The optimum molten salt amount to be added is a molar ratio of 20% to aluminum titanate. A high yield of stabilized aluminum titanate whiskers, with diameters ranging from 20–60 μm and an aspect ratio >10 can be prepared by holding the sample at 1300°C for 6 h. The growth direction of the stabilized aluminum titanate whiskers is the [100] direction.