Properties of porous magnesia-stabilized zirconia ceramics fabricated by slurry infiltration into polyurethane foam

This paper brings out an innovation in fabricating porous magnesia-stabilized zirconia components by infiltrating free-flowing suspension into polyurethane foam. The process enables the production of samples with different levels of porosity and pore structure by easily controlling the amount of slurry infiltrated into the foam. The process uses Isobam, a nontoxic binder, which makes the fabrication simple and environment-friendly. Samples with five different levels of total porosity ranging from 41.7% to 62.4% were fabricated. Microstructural studies revealed multimodal pore structure comprising both open and closed porosities. Measurements on thermal properties and compressive strength of the samples showed that the sample with the lowest porosity exhibited a thermal conductivity of 0.495 W/mK and a compressive strength of 45.7 MPa. The measured values of thermal conductivity of the samples with different porosity levels could be described by modified effective medium theory. Present work opens up enormous possibilities for economical industrial production of porous magnesia-stabilized zirconia components for biomedical and thermal insulation applications.