Phase evolution, thermal and microwave dielectric properties of cordierite-Al₂O₃ composite were investigated. As the content of Al₂O₃ increased, mullite, sapphirine, and spinel were formed as secondary phases, implying that cordierite may be decomposed by the reaction with Al₂O₃. All sintered specimens exhibited dense microstructures. The densification occurred through liquid phase sintering. As the content of Al₂O₃ increased, the thermal expansion coefficient and the dielectric constant increased, whereas the quality factor decreased. The thermal expansion coefficient, the dielectric constant, and the quality factor of the 90 wt% cordierite 10 wt% Al₂O₃ composite sintered at 1,425℃ were 2.9×10^-6 K^-1, 5.1, and 34,844 GHz, respectively.

This paper focuses on thermal properties of a newly prepared composite material by nano-silica and micro-silica mixture. Nano-silica and micro-silica mixture composites were made by dispersing surface treated nano-silica (average radius: 10 nm) and micro-size silica in epoxy resin. To investigate the effects of nano-silica and micro-size silica mixture(ENMC), the glass transition temperature (Tg), coefficients of thermal expansion(CTE) and elastic modulus of DMA properties by DSC, TMA and DMA devices were measured for the ENMC according to increase nano-silica addition contents and EMC. All properties of the neat epoxy were improved by the addition of micro-silica, which was improved much further by the addition of surface treated nano-silica to the EMC system.

In the (La0.8Ca0.2)(Cr0.9Co0.1)O3 (LCCC), which has been using as interconnector materials in SOFC, Al ions were substituted for Co because ionic radius of Al is similar to that of Co. Because of the almost identical ionic radius of Al and Co, the substitution was not thought to be affect the tolerance factor of LCCC, and the densification behavior, high temperature electrical conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient were examined as a function of Al concentration. In the cases of the x= 0 and x= 0.02 in (La0.8Ca0.2)(Cr0.9Co0.1-xAlx)O3 (x= 0∼0.1), the samples showed the relative densities above ≥95% when those were sintered at ≥1,350℃. In the case of the x≥0.06 the sintered density deteriorated greatly at lower sintering temperatures. High temperature electrical conductivity of the samples decreased as the content of Al increased. Since the valence state of Al ion is unchangeable, while Cr or Co ions contribute to the electrical conduction by changing those valence states, Al substitution resulted in the decreased electrical conductivity. Al doping of LCCC was an effective way of decreasing the thermal expansion coefficient (TEC).