Effect of alteration ratios of magnesia and alumina in non-stoichiometric cordierite composition formulations (2.(8-n)MgO.1.(5+n)Al2O3.5SiO2) on phase transformation and crystallization

This study focus on synthesis of α-phase cordierite using different non-stoichiometric cordierite composition through solid state reaction by adjusting the ratio of magnesia, MgO and alumina, Al2O3 in the cordierite composition formulation respectively. The qualitative and quantitative of phase analysis was carried out by X-ray diffractive (XRD) technique and Rietveld structural refinement method. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) was employed to investigate the crystallization behavior of various cordierite formulations as the function of temperature. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was also performed. Cordierite with formulation of 2.5 MgO1.8Al2O3.5SiO2 constitutes up to 96.4 wt% when the samples was sintered for 2 h at the optimal temperature of 1375 °C. The SEM micrograph revealed that the approaching single α-Cordierite sample obtained densified body with well alignment of crystal structure.