Investigation on Pyrolysis Behavior of Organic Sintering Aids for Porous Alumina Processing Using Ion Attachment Mass Spectrometry (IAMS).

Abstract

Sintering aids for porous alumina ceramics are usually organic materials, e.g., polyvinylalcohol (PVA) as a binder and acrylic resin spheres as fugitive material. The organic sintering aids are thermally decomposed during its firing and sintering processes. The pyrolysis behavior is important for better conditioning of the process and better property of the final product. The analysis of the pyrolysis behavior usually requests Evolved Gas Analysis-Mass Spectrometry (EGA-MS), well-known as TG-MS. In this study, Ion Attachment Mass Spectrometry (IAMS) has been applied for EGA-MS to obtain spectra with no cracking by the ionization. Peaks of characteristic fragments with higher mass have been observed in IAMS spectra during the pyrolysis, since the IAMS presents soft ionization. The comparison with Electron Impact (EI-MS) spectra which allows fragment ions with smaller mass due to the ionization is also presented.