Characteristics and sinterability of ceria stabilized zirconia nanoparticles prepared by chemical methods

Abstract

Microwave assisted and molten salts synthesis were extended for preparation of ceria (10 mol%; 15 mol%) stabilized zirconia and their parameters and sinterability were compared with that of particles prepared by the sol-gel combustion method. As-prepared powders by using microwave assisted and sol-gel combustion synthesis contained single tetragonal ZrO2 phase but powders prepared by molten salts combustion method contained two ceria-stabilized tetragonal phases with different content of ceria. The crystallite size of the as-prepared zirconia phases was in the range of 3.2 – 9.4 nm and the average particles size is in the range of 7.6 – 24.6 nm depending on the synthesis method. Additional calcination of the powders up to 1000 °C led to increase of crystallite size in the range of 19 – 25 nm and decrease of specific surface area in the range of 18 – 21 m2/g and partial formation of monoclinic phase of ZrO2. Bulk materials with fine-grained microstructure (0.8 – 1.6 µm) and density in the range of 95.2 – 97.2 % were obtained by spark plasma sintering at 1280 – 1310 °C during 3 min. Nanoparticles prepared by microwave assisted synthesis showed better sinterability and higher density.