Effect of silicon carbide additive on microstructure and properties of porcelain ceramics

Porcelain green bodies with various silicon carbide contents (0-3 wt.%) were prepared from a porcelain tile powder as a major raw material and SiC particle as an additive, and were sintered at 1000-1240 degrees C. The samples were systematically characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and metallurgical microscope. Effects of the SiC content and sintering temperature on the pore size, SiC particle size and sintered density were investigated in detail, and the correlative mechanism was also discussed. The SiC particle size decreased and the pore size augmented with increasing the sintering temperature. The sintered density decreased and the pore size enlarged with increasing the SiC content. The experimental results indicate that a small amount of SiC can cause porcelain ceramics to foam during sintering, and a foaming origin of the polishing porcelain waste during sintering could be attributed to the oxidation reaction of SiC particles under high temperature and alkaline molten salt conditions. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.