Flexural strength of alumina-strengthened porcelain with both small water absorption and small pyroplastic deformation

In this study, the flexural strength of three kinds of alumina-strengthened porcelains (ASPs), which were recently developed with both small water absorption (WA) and small pyroplastic deformation (PD), was examined using a three-point bending test. The strength of the porcelains was as large as or slightly larger than that of conventional ASPs except for the porcelain made with fine talc powders, in which the accelerated cordierite crystallization suppressed the PD. In addition, the conducted X-ray diffraction, which was analyzed using the Rietveld method, revealed that a lot of alumina particles in the porcelain were consumed for the cordierite crystallization, leading to a decrease in the porcelain strength. This indicates that to realize both small WA and small PD in the material design of porcelains, maintaining the alumina amount as large as possible is important to produce strong porcelains.