Temperature dependence of Young’s modulus and the occurrence of an elastic anomaly in porous alumina-mullite composites prepared by starch consolidation casting

The temperature dependence of Young’s modulus has been measured by impulse excitation up to 1400 °C (heating and cooling) for alumina-mullite composites with 40–60 wt% alumina prepared by starch consolidation casting, after firing at 1570 °C, resulting in materials with high porosities (43–57 %). Using previously determined temperature master curves, both analytical predictions and numerical computations on computer-generated microstructures are compared with experimental data, resulting in excellent agreement for the alumina-mullite composites. Apart from the overall decrease of Young’s modulus during heating, an elastic anomaly starting at around 950 °C and cumulating at around 1050 °C is observed in all cases during heating (but not during cooling), and is shown to be stronger with increasing alumina content and porosity. The results are discussed in terms of a “glass phase hypothesis” and a “phase transition hypothesis”, although neither of them provides a satisfactory explanation of the observed phenomenon.