Cost-effective tubular cordierite micro-filtration membranes processed by co-sintering

In order to reduce fabrication cost and process time, porous cordierite membranes with micro-filtration function were prepared by a simple co-sintering process from the low-cost industrial grade powder. Aqueous medium ball-milling was used as the effective classification method to obtain the fine powders with narrow particle size distribution. Then, the sintering characteristics of the selected two types of cordierite powders were studied by dilatometric measurements. And the effects of co-sintering temperature on the main properties of the prepared membranes were investigated such as micro-structure morphology and pore size distribution. The results prove that the co-sintering of two-layer cordierite membranes (45.0 and 15.0 μm thick) was feasible because of their low difference in sintering shrinkage behavior. The co-sintered tubular cordierite micro-filtration membranes showed some characteristics such as crack-free morphology, average pore diameters of 1.55 and 2.17 μm, 60.0 μm in total thickness and narrow pore size distribution.