Fabrication of high-permeance SiC filters reinforced with in situ-grown mullite whiskers for gas/solid filtration

The pursuit of cost-efficiency, superior strength, and excellent gas permeance has driven the development of silicon carbide (SiC) membranes or filters for gas/solid filtration. In this study, SiC filters with high gas permeance reinforced with in situ-grown mullite whiskers were successfully prepared through reaction bonding. Low-cost kaolin and bauxite were used as sintering aids and raw materials for mullite whisker formation, and MoO₃ was used as an additive to promote mullite whisker growth. The effects of different sintering temperatures and the addition of kaolin, bauxite, and MoO₃ on filter performance were systematically investigated. When the sintering aid and MoO₃ content additions were 6 and 1.5 wt%, respectively, and the sintering temperature was 1450 °C, the resulting ceramic filter exhibited a porosity of 45.5 %, a bending strength of 17.9 MPa, and an average pore size of 47.7 µm. Moreover, the filter exhibited a high Darcy's permeability coefficient of 2.42 × 10⁻¹¹ m², satisfactory chemical stability, and thermal shock resistance. The addition of MoO₃ facilitated the consumption of the molten phases and increased the anisotropic growth rate of the mullite whiskers, which contributed to the fabrication of the high-permeance filters. Finally, the ceramic filters demonstrated good performance for the filtration of dusty gases loaded with fly ash particles with a mean size of 15.3 µm at room temperature and 300 °C, and the removal rate reached > 99.9 %. The pressure drop was a little lower than that of our commercially available SiC filters. The SiC filters showed good prospects in the field of gas/solid filtration.