Abstract
This paper proposes a novel way of fabricating aligned porous Sn by freeze-drying of camphene slurry with stannic oxide ($SnO_2$) coated Sn powders. The $SnO_2$ coated Sn powders were prepared by surface oxidation of the initial and ball-milled Sn powders, as well as heat treatment of tin chloride coated Cu powders. Camphene slurries with 10 vol% solid powders were prepared by mixing at $50^{\circ}C$ with a small amount of oligomeric polyester dispersant. Freezing the slurry was done in a Teflon cylinder attached to a copper bottom plate cooled at $-25^{\circ}C$. Improved dispersion stability of camphene slurry and the homogeneous frozen body was achieved using the oxidized Sn powder at $670^{\circ}C$ in air after ball milling. The porous Sn specimen, prepared by freeze-drying of the camphene slurry with oxidized Sn powder from the heat-treated Sn/tin chloride mixture and sintering at $1100^{\circ}C$ for 1 h in a hydrogen atmosphere, showed large pores of about $200{\mu}m$, which were aligned parallel to the camphene growth direction, and small pores in their internal walls. However, $100{\mu}m$ spherical particles were observed in the bottom part of the specimen due to the melting of the Sn powder during sintering of the green compact.
