Preparation and characterization of ceramic substrate from tungsten mine tailings

In order to effectively utilize industrial wastes, we prepared ceramic substrates successfully by conventional ceramic sintering process using tungsten mine tailings as the main raw material. The properties of the ceramic substrates sintered at different temperatures (from 1000 to 1250 degrees C) were investigated. The crystalline phases and microstructure obviously changed. The pores appeared when the sintering temperature was above 1200 degrees C, and ceramic substrates had the densest structure at 1150 degrees C. The bulk density and powder density both showed first increasing then decreasing with the sintering temperature increasing, and both reached the maximum at 1150 degrees C, 2.50 gfcm(3) and 2.58 g/cm(3) respectively. The porosity had the minimum, 3.10%, at 1150 degrees C. The samples also showed good corrosion resistance performance. The changes of the mechanical properties were similar to that of bulk density. The flexural strength and compression strength reached to 138.52 MPa and 1129.36 MPa, respectively, showing good mechanical strength. The good performance of ceramic substrate from tungsten mine tailings indicates it possesses the market potential and fine application. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.