A modified wet chemical synthesis of Wollastonite ceramic nanopowders and their characterizations

A simple, cost effective, reproducible, eco-friendly and very efficient novel modified wet chemical synthesis of high purity Wollastonite ceramics nanopowders is developed. The precursors used to synthesize calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) in this work are calcium chloride and sodium-disilicate. The method utilizes moderate heat comparatively with the methods reported in the literature. The resulting powders were calcined at different temperatures, characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, EDX, TGA/DTA, and N-2 adsorption. XRD patterns for samples calcined show the formation of crystalline Wollastonite. Furthermore, XRD reveal that beta-CaSiO3 occurs at 800 degrees C, then at 1200 degrees C, it transforms completely to alpha-CaSiO3. The method is applicable for bulk synthesis at cheaper cost, which opens interesting perspectives for applications in the several industrial fields such as ceramics, paints, plastics, biomaterials, composites, to name few.