CHANGE OF INTERNAL PORE STRUCTURE IN ALUMINA GREEN BODY DURING INITIAL SINTERING

A novel characterization method was applied to study the morphological changes of large pores in a ceramic green body during the early stage of densification at 1100-degrees-C for 1-64 h. Large processing pores were present in the green body. They were preserved after densification up to a relative density of 83.9% with their shape and size unchanged significantly. The pore size distribution determined by mercury porosimetry showed the growth of matrix pores of small size, but failed to show the change of large processing pores with densification.