Effect of starch addition on microstructure and strength of ball clay membrane

Abstract

The use of starch as pore-forming agent is one of the frequently used methods to produce porous ceramics membrane with controlled microstructure (porosity and pore size) because corn starch are cheap, non- toxic and environmental friendly. A membrane with the mixture 0-35 wt% of corn starch and ball clay were prepared by compaction process and sintered at 1200°C. Thermal analysis has been done to identify the minimum sintering temperature for ball clay. The sintered membranes show the range value of shrinkage is 4.5-22.76% and apparent porosity of 9.14-31.83% depending on the starch content. The pore structures were analyzed by FESEM. The strength of sintered samples was tested by 3-point bending test. The flexural strength reduced from 21-7 MPa. These clay membrane are promising porous ceramic structure for water filtration applications due to their excellent combination physical and mechanical properties.