Fabrication and properties of porous anorthite ceramics with modelling pore structure

A single-phased anorthite porous ceramics was fabricated by foam-gelcasting technique using α-Al2O3, CaCO3 and SiO2 as starting material. Through adjusting foaming agent concentration and solid content in the slurry, tailored porosity (62-91%), pore size (7-350 μm), thermal conductivity (0.04-0.27 W/m·K) and compressive strength (0.27-13.39 MPa) were obtained. The experimental thermal conductivity was in good agreement with the universal model. The dependence of compressive strength on porosity can be described by the Gibson model.