Measuring the surface area, pore size, and density of ceramic materials

Stephen Hubbard Trained as a Chemical Engineer I have spent my professional career in Project Management, Sales, and Marketing. The last 16 years have been dedicated to instrumentation used in the characterization of porous materials.

After 11 years successfully directing the sales ativities of Quantachrome Corporation within the USA, I moved into a Product Manager position. For the past five years, I have been focused on delivering the best customer experience for the products that we manufacture and the support that we provide.

Stephen Hubbard

Anton Paar Quantatec

Abstract

Porous properties impact performance of ceramic materials. Porosity is desirable in light-weight products, thermal insulation, catalyst supports, wicking, and filtration uses. Negative aspects of porosity include friability, loss of strength, undesirable fluid absorption etc.

The performance of many sintered or cast ceramic structures may be predicted from the specific surface area of the starting ceramic powder, and monitored during their production processes.

Two of the most important ceramic characteristics that are measured in quality control applications are density and porosity. These properties are very much inter-related, and it would be unusual for a change in one not to affect the other.

This presentation will be a brief overview of the measurement techniques used to quantify the properties mentioned above.