Synthesis and Characterization of Cordierite Ceramics with varying Amounts of Alumina and Magnesia

Authors: Mgbemere HE, Obidiegwu EO, Moka NN

DOI Info: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5805171

ABSTRACT

Cordierite is a naturally occurring mineral with unique characteristics and can be synthesized from locally available raw materials. One of the well-known applications for this material is in diesel particulate filter (DPF) which helps to reduce the pollution rate from automobiles. The rate of pollution in Nigeria is very high partly due to the low availability of filters. In this work, cordierite was produced using alumina, magnesia and silica by varying the amounts of alumina and magnesia. Solid-state synthesis method was used while characterization tools like X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscope (SEM), bulk density, and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were used in the analysis. The chemical analysis showed that 77.64% Al₂O₃, 76.7% MgO and 94.97% of SiO₂ were obtained from the raw materials respectively. The phase analysis showed that as the MgO content increased, the intensity of the peaks at 44^o and 60^o increased and the enstatite phase was formed. Both endothermic and exothermic peaks were observed from thermal studies. The sample morphologies indicated that increasing MgO content led to a reduction in the average grain size of the particles. The results indicate that while cordierite formation commenced, complete densification was not attained possibly due to the lower sintering temperature used.

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