This paper reviews the importance of pore defect in sintered ceramics which affects the mechanical property. The relationship between fracture strength and microstructure is discussed to demonstrate that the pore defect serves as the fracture origins which reduces the fracture strength of ceramics.
Manufacturing process of alumina ceramics through powder granule compaction is introduced in order to explain how the slurry property influences the granule properties, leading to the pore defect structure in final sintered bodies which determines the strength distribution of ceramics.
Packed bed reactors are commonly employed for a general catalyst reactor, chemical heat pumps etc. However, the low effective thermal conductivities of packed bed reactors often lead to low performances. In this paper, heat transfer enhancement in packed bed reactor is investigated numerically and experimentally. As a promoter of thermal conduction, a brush made of carbon fiber with high thermal conductivity is introduced in the packed bed. As a result, the carbon fiber brush effectively transferred reaction heat and promote the reaction. Therefore, it is one of the strong candidates of thermal promoter in the packed bed reactors.