Effect of micron and nano size oxide material additives on reaction sintering, micro structural and physical properties of Al2TiO5 based ceramics

Aluminum-titanate (tialite) based ceramics have found widespread applications due to their good thermal shock resistance and low thermal expansion. Tialite is presently used in automotive industry, thermal processing technology, metallurgy and glass industry. Eutectoid decomposition in to the initial oxides and low mechanical strength limit the well-known properties of aluminum-titanate. In the present work, good stabilizing behavior was achieved by addition of talc in micron size and appropriates properties were obtained by adding nano boehmite and colloidal silica that results mullite phase formation. The effect of mullite phase in the densification of tialite has been studied. XRD, DTA and SEM have been used to characterize the influence of these additives on phase transformation, sintering process and microstructure.