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Physical, fluid dynamic and mechanical properties of alumina gel-cast foams manufactured using agarose or ovalbumin as gelling agents

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Abstract

Alumina gel-cast foams were manufactured in a broad total porosity range (43–86%) by using agarose or ovalbumin as gelling agents. The foams were examined in terms of microstructural, permeability, and mechanical properties. For the achieved open porosity level (19–85%), the mean cell size (19–375 µm), and mean window size (8–77 µm) of the alumina foams manufactured using ovalbumin were slightly wider than those obtained using agarose (34–262 µm and 18–33 µm, respectively). By using different contents of agarose (0.3–1 wt%) or albumin (5 wt%) and solids (30–45.9 wt%), it was possible to vary the foaming yield from 1.6 to 4.4 and produce bodies with a very wide permeability level that included several classes of porous ceramics. Darcian (k1) and non-Darcian (k2) permeability coefficients displayed values in the range 3.2 × 10−18 to 4.3 × 10−9 m2 and 1.8 × 10−18 to 6.5 × 10−5 m respectively. Compressive strength of bodies was dependent upon the porosity level, with a variation of 8.5–149.7 MPa.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The work has been financially supported by the Faculty of Chemistry of Rzeszów University of Technology (U-594/DS) and by CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) under the project 303962/2015-1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Course of Chemical Engineering, University of Ribeirão Preto, UNAERP, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14096-900, Brazil

    Murilo Daniel de Mello Innocentini & Victor Dias Rasteira

  2. Faculty of Chemistry, Rzeszow University of Technology, Rzeszow, 35-959, Poland

    Marek Potoczek, Anna Chmielarz & Elwira Kocyło

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  1. Murilo Daniel de Mello Innocentini
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Correspondence to Murilo Daniel de Mello Innocentini.

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de Mello Innocentini, M.D., Rasteira, V.D., Potoczek, M. et al. Physical, fluid dynamic and mechanical properties of alumina gel-cast foams manufactured using agarose or ovalbumin as gelling agents. Journal of Materials Research 32, 2810–2818 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2017.263

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