Effect of Starch on Sintering Behavior for Fabricating Porous Cordierite Ceramic

Porous cordierite ceramics were prepared with starch as pore-forming agent by solid-state method. The green bodies were sintered at 1,100-1,400 degrees C for 2 h. The characterization was focused on thermal analysis, phase evolution, sintering behavior, porosity and micro-structural changes. The results show that cordierite becomes the main crystallization phase at 1,200 degrees C. The shrinkage behavior shows the most obvious dependence on the sintering temperature and starch content, and it can be divided into three stages. Moreover, the open porosity increases with the increase of starch content, but the pore-forming effectivity decreases. Nevertheless, compared with the open porosity curves, the bulk density curves are more in line with the linear rule. The micro-photographs show the densification process with the sintering temperature and the variation of pore connectivity with the starch content.