Characterization of Nigerian clay as porous ceramic material

• Main Authors: Abubakar, Muazu, Aliyu, A. B., Ahmad, Norhayati
• Format: Article
• Published: Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland 2014
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/id/eprint/52100/; http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.845.256

Porous ceramics were produced by compaction method of Nigerian clay and cassava starch. The samples were prepared by adding an amount from 5 to 30%wt of cassava starch into the clay and sintered at temperature of 900-1300°C. The influence of cassava starch content on the bulk density and apparent porosity was studied. The result of XRD and DTA/TGA shows that the optimum sintering temperature was found to be 1300°C. The percentage porosity increased from 12.87 to 43.95% while bulk density decreased from 2.16 to 1.46g/cm3 with the increase of cassava starch from 5 to 30%wt. The effect of sintering temperature and cassava starch content improved the microstructure in terms of porosity and the thermal properties of porous clay for various applications which requires a specific porosity.