The green machining of alumina (Al2O3) green bodies generates a certain amount of waste alumina powder. Waste alumina ceramic powder should be disposed of as non-hazardous waste in a legally compliant manner. The influence of additives on the stability of 70 wt.% (≈40 vol.%) alumina-waste alumina water-based suspension was investigated in the presented research. A Box-Behnken three-factor response surface design was used for the preparation of stable highly-concentrated suspensions with the addition of three additives. The optimal amount of each additive was selected according to the obtained results of minimal apparent viscosity: 0.05 wt.% Tiron as dispersant, 0.1 wt.% poly (vinyl alcohol) as binder and 0.2 wt.% magnesium aluminate spinel as abnormal grain growth inhibitor. The analysis of variance was used to identify the contribution of each additive. The zeta potential and sedimentations tests were performed to confirm the suspension stability measurements at different pH values. Alumina particles were optimally dispersed at pH values between 8 and 11. According to the results, the investigated composition of 20 wt.% waste alumina powder (weight content, dry alumina powder), with the addition of optimal amounts of additives, shows a possible application in the production of ceramics by slip casting.
Keywords: additives; alumina ceramics; optimization; recycling; response surface methodology; slip casting; stabilization; waste alumina.