Sintering behavior of nanocrystalline zirconia prepared by chemical vapor synthesis

Abstract

Powder synthesis and ceramic processing methods have to be improved to take full advantages of new, improved properties of nanocrystalline ceramics. Sintered nanocrystalline ceramics of pure, undoped zirconia are formed from nanocrystalline powder of optimized quality obtained by the chemical vapor synthesis (CVS) method. The as-synthesized CVS ZrO2 powder is nonagglomerated with a crystallite size of about 5 nm, narrow size distribution, and high crystallinity. On uniaxial compaction a transparent green body of ultrafine, uniform microstructure and narrow pore size distribution corresponding to the grain size distribution is formed, which is sintered under vacuum at 950 °C into a transparent, fully dense ZrO2 ceramic with a grain size of 60 nm.