Data for: Preparation and characterization of mullite whisker reinforced ceramics made from coal fly ash
Description
The mullite-phase ceramics are widely used in the fields of exploiting the energy resources, producing the porous ceramic sieves for sewage treatment, and so on. Although many researches were conducted on mullite phase, researches on the whisker-shaped mullite phase were limited. Moreover, few studies were reported on the improvement in mechanical properties of the ceramics based on the coal fly ash with aluminum fluoride addition. In the present study, the mullite whisker reinforced ceramics were successfully prepared using the solid waste coal fly ash as the main starting material by reaction sintering process. The effects of pretreatment (pickling) of the raw material, sintering temperature, and aluminum fluoride addition on the mechanical properties, phase structure and microstructure were systematically investigated. The pickling process of the coal fly ash was an effective method to enhance the flexural strength of the ceramic samples. The proper sintering temperature and AlF3 addition were two key factors to make an ideal ceramic material. The resulting ceramics made from the pickled coal fly ash, sintered at 1200℃, and with AlF3 content of 6 wt.% exhibited the optimal flexural strength of 59.1 MPa, as well as the bulk density of 1.32 g/cm3, and the porosity of 26.8 %. It showed that this type of material could be an ideal candidate for manufacturing the ceramic proppant, thus promoting the exploitation of unconventional oil and gas resources better.