Study of glassy microporous filters in the sodium borosilicate glasses with appropriate carriers

Summary DúThe aim of this work is to prepare a porous filter composed of two porous layers: macro-porous carrier and micro-porous sodium borosilicate (NBS) glass with TiO₂ additive (NBST glass), a Vycor-type glass. In the present work we prepared the macroporous support from the same material (NBST glass) as the upper microporous layer and then by sintering both parts to produce the required composite. This work introduces the results of experiments in the preparation of micro-porous filter on NBST glass base, laid on macro-porous carrier. After sintering of scrap NBST glass, porous samples were prepared to be used as carriers for micro-porous samples of phase-separated NBST glass. In other cases, the following carrier materials were used: a) frita SIMAX, b) Al₂O₃. The properties of the NBST glass and the changes in the glass structure with temperature were studied in order to determine the optimal sintering temperature of the prepared glasses. For the development of the sintered glasses, valuable information was obtained from heating microscopy (HM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. The combination of the HM and SEM results with the measurements of the micro-hardness and density directed to the further study of the phase separated NBST glasses.