Effects of sintering temperature and initial compaction load on alpha-alumina membrane support quality

This work reports the effect of sintering temperature and compaction load on the quality of α-alumina (~particle size<1 µm) membrane support for dry compaction method. We analyzed the membrane synthesis process to get good quality membrane support in a more economical way by reducing the holding time (4 h) at different sintering temperatures. The effect of initial compaction load on porosity, pore size, flexural strength and shrinkage during synthesis of α-alumina support at various sintering temperatures was investigated. It was found that at 1500 °C sintering temperature and 350 kN compaction load, the support exhibited least porosity of ~1.4% and least pore sizes of ~67 nm, whereas at 1200 °C and 50 kN compaction load, the support showed the highest porosity of ~55% and highest pore size of ~505 nm.Maximum flexural strength of ~200 MPa was obtained for the support synthesized at 1500 °C sintering temperature and 350 kN load.