Porous ceramics were produced by compaction method of Nigerian clay and cassava starch. The samples were prepared by adding an amount from 5 to 30%wt of cassava starch into the clay and sintered at temperature of 900-1300°C. The influence of cassava starch content on the bulk density and apparent porosity was studied. The result of XRD and DTA/TGA shows that the optimum sintering temperature was found to be 1300°C. The percentage porosity increased from 12.87 to 43.95% while bulk density decreased from 2.16 to 1.46g/cm3 with the increase of cassava starch from 5 to 30%wt. The effect of sintering temperature and cassava starch content improved the microstructure in terms of porosity and the thermal properties of porous clay for various applications which requires a specific porosity.
Morphology, pasting and thermal properties of microwave-assisted cassava starch- stearic acid complex
