LIU Jianmin ¹, ZHANG Tao ^{2, 3}, JIANG Weihui ^{1, 2},FENG Guo ¹, MIAO Lifeng ¹, CHEN Ting ¹,GAO Qiwei ²
(1.National Engineering Research Center for Domestic and Building Ceramics, Jingdezhen 333001, Jiangxi, China; 2. School of
Material Science and Engineering, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Jingdezhen 333403, Jiangxi, China; 3. School of Material Science
and Engineering, Jiangxi Ceramic and Art Institute, Jingdezhen 333001, Jiangxi, China)

Abstract: Zircon whiskers were synthesized by non-hydrolytic sol-gel method combined with molten salt process with anhydrous zirconium tetrachloride as zirconium source, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as silicon source, anhydrous ethanol as solvent, and sodium molybdate as molten salt. The effects of the introduction of the mineralizer LiF and the amount of the molten salt on the preparation of zircon whiskers were investigated by XRD, SEM, TEM, etc. The results show that the introduction of the mineralizer LiF does not promote the growth of the zircon whisker, but leads to the two-dimensional or even three-dimensional growth of zircon crystals; too much or too little molten salt is not conducive to the formation of zircon whiskers; when the mineralizer LiF is not introduced, and the mass ratio of dry gel powder to molten salt is 1:1, zircon whiskers elongated along the growth direction of c axis with high yield and the aspect ratio of 15–20 can be synthesized.

Key words: non-hydrolytic sol-gel method; molten salt process; zircon; whisker