Processing of particle stabilized Al2TiO5–ZrTiO4 foam to porous ceramics

Macroporous Al2TiO5–ZrTiO4 ceramics were synthesized from particle stabilized wet foam using direct foaming process. The initial suspension for Al2TiO5 (Molar ratio of Al2O3/TiO2 being 1:1) was prepared and a secondary suspension having a molar composition 1:1 ZrO2/TiO2 is blended to the initial suspension in (0, 10, 20, 30 and 50) vol%. The wet foam exhibits an air content of 79–87% and Laplace pressure from 1.38 to 2.23 mPa. It also exhibits adsorbtion free energy of about 2.62 × 10−13 J to 10.27 × 10−13 J, which results in irreversible adsorption of particles at the air–water interface, leading to outstanding foam stability of about 77 –87%. The final suspension was foamed, dried at room temperature and thermal analysis (TGA–DTA) of the green specimens was carried out. After sintering at 1500 °C for 1 h, the obtained porous ceramics were subjected to phase identification using XRD, EDX and microstructural analyses were performed by FESEM.