Preparation of porous Al2O3 ceramics with in situ formed C-nanowires derived form silicone resin

Porous Al2O3 ceramics with different SiC contents were successfully prepared through preceramic polymer process following by sintering at 1500 degrees C at N-2 atmosphere, where ball-shape Al2O3 powders and preceramic polymer silicone resin were used as the matrix and the binder. According to the SEM, XRD and elemental analysis, it was found that C-nanowires were formed in the gap between grains in sintered samples, which was formed by the organic-inorganic transformation of silicone resin at N-2 atmosphere. The existence of SiC was beneficial for the formation of C-nanowires. With the increase of SiC content in the samples, the porosity had no evidently change, however, the bending strength increased from 23 MPa to 50 MPa. (C) 2017 Elsevier By. All rights reserved.