Study on the Consolidation Process of Protein Foaming in the Preparation of Ceramic Foams

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1077.2012.12123

Abstract

Abstract: High porosity Si3N4 ceramic foams were fabricated by protein foaming method using egg white protein as foam agents. Atmosphere-, constant- and high-pressure consolidation processes were tested to prepare ceramic foams. The effects of air pressure on cellular structure, open porosity and pore size distribution of the as-prepared ceramic foams were investigated. The results showed that ceramic foams with average pore size and porosity of 210 μm and 78.6% was obtained by constant-pressure consolidation, which are the highest values among all the three groups. Moreover, SEM reveals that ceramic foams with uniformly ellipsoidal pores are produced by atmosphere- and constant-pressure consolidation processes, while ceramic foams with regular sphere pores are produced by high-pressure consolidation. The walls’ thickness of the pores increase with the increase of air pressure during consolidation process. As a result, the high-pressure consolidation process yields the highest compressive strength (nearly 50 MPa) of ceramic foams.

Key words: protein foaming, ceramic foams, Si₃N₄, consolidation

CLC Number:

TB332

YIN Liu-Yan, ZHOU Xin-Gui, YU Jin-Shan, ZHAO Shuang, LUO Zheng, YANG Bei. Study on the Consolidation Process of Protein Foaming in the Preparation of Ceramic Foams[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2012, 27(12): 1331-1335.

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