PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ALUMINA-ZEOLITE

FOAM

Hamimah A.R1*, Abdullah M.N1

1
Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University Tun Hussein Onn
Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia.
*
hamimah@uthm.edu.my

Abstract

Ceramic foam shows a significant potential of development and application, essentially due to
the emergence of environmental preoccupations. Various methods have been applied in the
fabrication of ceramic foams. This paper described the preparation of alumina-zeolite foam
through polymeric sponge technique with the use of ovalbumin based aqueous slurries. 50 to
80 vol % of alumina was mixed with zeolite of clinoptilolite type and sintered at 1350C. The
effect of different alumina loading on alumina-zeolite foams properties was investigated. The
addition of alumina has given a significant increment to foams apparent porosity. However, a
slight reduction occurred to its bulk density and strength. Ceramic foams with 60 and 70 vol
% of alumina demonstrated higher porosity which were 71.14% and 84.12% respectively with
flexural strength more than 1 MPa. Therefore, these foams have potential use in a range of
applications including filter and catalysis.

Keywords: porosity, alumina-zeolite foam, polymeric sponge method

Introduction

Ceramic foams are made from a wide range of ceramic materials; both oxide and non-oxide
are being considered for the whole range of potential applications. These include catalysis,
filtration, thermal insulation, impact absorbing structures, high specific strength materials,
performs for metal-ceramic composites, biomechanical implants, and high efficiency
combustion burners [1,2]. Ceramic foams or porous ceramics are produced in many ways
such as the infiltration of reticulated polyurethane which performs with aqueous particulate
ceramic slurries. Another method is the use of insoluble organic fugitive materials in ceramic
suspensions, which the burnout leaving the porosity. This method requires a large amount of
fugitive materials in order to produce highly porous bodies. The mostly used fugitive
materials are starches, carbon black and sawdust. Besides that, a fused deposition method has
been used to produce porous mullite bodies [1]. In this study, alumina-zeolite foams are
produced by the polymeric sponge method which involves the impregnation of polyurethane
sponges with slurries containing ceramic particles and appropriate binders followed by drying
and sintering at elevated temperature.
 Fig.1 Photos of alumina-zeolite foam.

Table 1 Properties of alumina-zeolite foam.

Alumina Zeolite Apparent Bulk density Flexural
Sample 3
(vol %) (vol %) porosity (%) (g/cm ) strength (MPa)
1 50 50 48.95 1.708 3.097
2 60 40 71.14 1.698 1.774
3 70 30 84.12 1.457 1.025
4 80 20 76.52 1.118 0.574

References

[1] S. Dhara and P. Bhagarva, “A Simple Direct Casting Route to Ceramic Foams.” Journal
of the American Ceramic Society., 2003, Vol. 86, pp. 1645-1650

[2] S. Sharafat, N. Ghoniem, M. Sawan, A. Ying and B. Williams, “Breeder foam : An

innovative Solid Breeder Material For Fusion Application.”Journal of American Ceramic
Society., 2006, Vol.81, pp. 455-460.