High-strength porous cordierite ceramics from emulsions stabilized by plate-like cordierite particles

Compressive strength is vital for porous cordierite ceramics widely used in thermal storage, thermal insulation, refractory materials, and catalyst supports, but conventional reinforcement methods often come at the cost of sacrificing porosity. This work aimed to produce high-strength porous cordierite ceramics from emulsions stabilized by submicron-sized, plate-like cordierite particles. The strong adsorption of pentylamine-modified particles at the oil-water interface and the formation of an attractive particle network throughout the continuous phase stabilized the emulsions to withstand room-temperature drying without structural distortion. The high-aspect-ratio particle morphology facilitated their preferred orientation during emulsification and sintering processes, thereby imparting remarkable mechanical properties to the ceramic bodies. By adjusting sintering temperature and pentylamine concentration, compressive strengths ranging from 32.6 to 67.4 MPa were obtained from porous cordierites with a porosity of 54.8 %–69.0 %. Such high strength values were attributed to the strong pore walls endowed by high interfacial coverage and the dense struts formed by stacked plate-like particles in the continuous phase.