Sol–gel synthesis of aluminum titanate (Al2TiO5) nano-particles

Aluminum titanate (Al2TiO5) is a refractory material with low thermal expansion coefficient about 1–2 × 10−6 K−1. In this study nano-particles of tialite (Al2TiO5) have been synthesized by sol–gel processing at low temperatures around 750 °C. The raw materials were titanium butoxide, aluminum chloride, ethanol and citric acid. After preparing of primary sol at acidic pH and polymerization at 80 °C, drying and calcination of obtained gel have been done at different temperatures. Results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infra red (FTIR), simultaneous thermal analysis (STA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses showed that the formation temperature of tialite reduced from 1280 to 750 °C via sol–gel processing at a homogeneous system in atomic level. Size of the primary particles was less than 100 nm but nano-particles of tialite agglomerated like cabbage shape.