Reticulate ceramics have been increasingly employed in purification of gases, liquid metals and in catalytic processes. The application area usually depends on the chemical composition and the physical properties (porosity, pore size and pore counting (ppi)). In most cases, reticulate ceramics are submitted to compression loads at high temperatures, which makes the durability of these cellular materials be ultimately related to the mechanical quality of the struts. In filtration applications, it is also important the evaluation of fluid dynamic properties of the ceramic, specifically its permeability to fluid flow. In this work, a relationship between mechanical properties and permeability constants of Al2O3-SiC ceramic foam filters with 8 to 90 ppi is presented. Results were associated with the processing technique and with the mechanical modeling presented in the literature.
ceramic filters; permeability; mechanical strength
