Tricalcium aluminate (C3A) are used for different applications such as thermal insulation, cement, refractory concrete as binders or binders. The aim of this work is to study the synthesis and sintering behaviour of C3A samples. The chemical synthesis was performed by means of polymeric precursor method from metalic nitrates dissolved in ethylene glycol and citric acid forming a polymeric resin. The evolution of the crystalline phases was accomplished by X ray Diffraction (XRD). Thermogravimetric (TG), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTG) and Thermal Expansion were performed in order to verify the thermal properties of the material. From the characterizations carried out it may be concluded that the synthesis of polymeric precursors via allowed obtaining pure phase of C3A at 1000°C low temperatures. The temperature of 1350°C it possible to obtain materials having grain morphology with uniform size and densely packed.

The synthesis of ceramic materials from polymeric precursors has been the subject of numerous studies due to lower energy cost compared to conventional processing. The study aims to research and develop synthesis of calcium aluminate powders via the polymeric precursor method, in order to obtain the pure phase of hepta-aluminate dodecálcio (C12A7) with mayenita mineral name, since it has applications like: special cements and components for high temperature fuel cells. A study of the evolution of crystalline phases by X-ray diffraction was performed, the vibrational modes of atomic location in crystalline phases were studied by micro-Raman spectroscopy was also performed and images from scanning electron microscopy. From the characterizations carried out on the material can be seen that the sintering temperature of 1200°C was obtained pure phase, so the choice of synthesis shown to be effective due to the complexity of obtaining this phase pure.

A study of the electrical transport properties of calcium aluminate (CA) with coexisting C3A and C12A7 phases was carried out. In this work, powders resulting from synthesis based on the polymer precursor method. The resulting product was characterized by means of XRD, Raman, and UV-visible analysis to obtain the optical BG and by EIS. From the XRD and Raman analyses, the presence and coexistence of the two self-modified phases were confirmed. In this biphasic composition, celite phase was estimated to be the major phase. An optical BG of 5.69 eV at room temperature was calculated, and under the condition of a reducing atmosphere in the temperature range of 750-950 ºC, an activation energy for conduction of 2.98 eV was determined by EIS measurements. Further, in this biphasic sample, the electronic conduction transport might be governed by the mayenite minor phase due to its large defect nature and concentration compared to celite. In oxidizing conditions, the activation energy for electrical conduction was 1.42 eV, which is somewhat higher than that observed by other authors in mayenite single phase; this result was explained by taking into account the coexistence of biphasic material and an actual chemical defect scenario in SMCM is discussed.