Difference of Mullite Whiskers between Ytterbia-Doped Aluminum Hydroxide-Silica Gel and Mechanochemical Process

A number of processing routes were developed for the synthesis of mullite whiskers. Mullite whiskers that were derived from ytterbia-doped aluminum hydroxide-silica gel were studied; another process for preparing mullite whiskers from Al2O3-SiO2 oxide mixtures by mechanochemical method was encountered by chance. The method of ytterbia-doped aluminum hydroxide-silica was used to enhance mullite formation from gel. For adding ytterbia, mullite formation can take place at 1000 °C and almost single-phase mullite can be achieved at 1150 °C, which is a significantly lower temperature than mechanochemical method. This enhancement of mullite formation is also attributed to refinement of aluminum hydroxide-silica by gel. Furthermore, well-developed single-crystal mullite whiskers were produced from the gel powder instead of normal-shaped grains. The presence of YbO might have promoted the formation of nanosized Al2O3 particles, which then acted as a template leading to mullite whiskers at higher sintering temperature.