structural investigation of cordierite glass-ceramic derived from sol-gel method in the MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 system

Cordierite is a main phase in engineering that uses in various indestrials. In this study, high purity cordierite was successfully synthesized via sol-gel method using TEOS, Al(NO3)3.9H2O, Mg(NO3)2.6H2O as starting materials and the different steps of transformation to cordierite are analyzed by DSC, FT-IR spectrometry and X-ray diffraction at different temperatures. FTIR spectroscopy result showed the presence of hydroxyl groups in the synthesized powder and have evidenced the characteristic bands for α-cordierite at high temperatures which supported the XRD result. XRD result showed that α-cordierite was obtained with cristobalite and spinel phase as a minor impurity.