Nanocrystalline yttria-doped zirconia sintered by fast firing

Abstract

Sintering of powders commonly leads to simultaneous densification and grain growth, particularly for nanocrystalline materials. Currently, methods such as spark plasma sintering (SPS), hot pressing (HP), two-step sintering (TSS) and fast firing (FF) are employed to hinder grain growth while maintaining a high densification. In this work, FF consisting in thermal treatments with high heating rates (>500° C/min) and shorter holding times (10 min or less) and conventional sintering (CS) approaches were experimentally compared in the sintering of commercial yttria doped zirconia (3YSZ and 8YSZ) compacts. CS-samples presented larger grain sizes by a factor of ~2 and ~4 in comparison to the initial 3YSZ and 8YSZ powders. Conversely, FF method significantly suppressed grain growth with a growth factor of ~1. Those results and comparison with previous work indicated that high heat inputs could indeed minimize grain growth