Pressureless sintering of sol-gel derived alumina-zirconia composites

• Published in: Materials science & engineering. A, Structural materials : properties, microstructure and processing Vol. 256; no. 1-2; pp. 265 - 270
• Main Authors: JAYASEELAN, D, NISHIKAWA, T, AWAJI, H, GNANAM, F. D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier 15.11.1998
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Building materials. Ceramics. Glasses; Ceramic industries; Chemical industry and chemicals; Exact sciences and technology; Miscellaneous; Technical ceramics; Differential thermal analysis; Stabilized zirconia; Experimental study; X ray diffraction; Precursor; Oxide ceramics; Composite material; Inorganic compound; Calcining; Sol gel process; Sintering; Manufacturing; Microstructure; Alumina; Reinforced material
• ISSN: 0921-5093; 1873-4936
• DOI: 10.1016/S0921-5093(98)00801-6

Alumina-zirconia (pure zirconia, 12 mol% ceria stabilized zirconia and 3 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia) composites containing 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 vol.% zirconia were prepared by sol-gel technique. The procedure involved the following steps: preparation of stable (hydrous) alumina and zirconia sols, mixing of sols in proper ratio, to obtain the final precursor with the desired composition and finally stabilizing the mixed sols. Thermal analysis was carried out for the dried precursor. The sol-gel derived precursors were calcined at different temperatures and their crystallization behavior was studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. Samples calcined at 950 deg C sintered better than those calcined at other temperatures. All the samples were sintered at 1530 deg C for 3 h by pressureless sintering, which yields up to 99.8% of the theoretical density of the composite.