Effect of Dispersant Amount to Fabrication of 3-D Porous Cordierite through Gelcasting Method

In this research, cordierite was produced using oxide based raw materials (MgO, SiO2 and Al2O3) through glass route method. A mixture of raw material was gone through melting at 1550 °C followed by water quenching. Glass powder produced were then milled for 5 hour to get fine powder. Cordierite powder produced was then used to prepare 3-D porous cordierite ceramic. In this research, gelcasting method was choosen. The dispersant amount added in the cordierite slurry was varied (2.5-5.5g). The cordierite pellet were then characterized using x-ray difraction. Results shows high purity (99%) cordierite was obtained. The porosity and compressive strength were tested. The porosity show when increasing the dispersant amount, the porosity will decrease. For compressive strength increase when the dispersant amount increase.