Increasing Bending Strength of Porcelain Stoneware via Pseudoboehmite Additions

Pseudoboehmite nanoparticles synthesized through the desulfation of Al 2 (SO 4 ) 3 were used to investigate the reinforcement of commercial porcelain stoneware. Fractured specimens investigated by SEM suggest that the added pseudoboehmite precursor generated a nanometric primary mullite phase dispersed in the porcelain glassy phase that limited and stopped the intergranular crack propagation. The porcelain modulus of rupture increased twice the value of the modulus of rupture (108 MPa) as compared with that samples without pseudoboehmite additions. Pseudoboehmite also led to increased densification of porcelain stoneware bodies up to 1250°C as shown by thermodilatometry data.