Nd₂O₃ DOPED YTTRIA STABILIZED ZIRCONIA CERAMICS FABRICATED BY CONVENTIONAL AND MICROWAVE SINTERING METHODS

Abstract

Cubic 8 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) ceramics doped with 9, 12 and 15wt% Nd₂O₃ were sintered in a single mode 2.45 GHz microwave furnace at sintering temperature of 1400°C for 20 min. and by conventional sintering at 1400°C for 5 h. The microwave sintered samples attained higher densities than the conventional processed ones. The Nd₂O₃ additions have adverse effects on densification of 8YSZ ceramics. The XRD investigations revealed that, cubic phase of 8YSZ remained stable and substitution of Zr4+ ions by larger Nd3+ ions causes an increase in the lattice parameters with Nd₂O₃ additions. Vickers hardness of 8YSZ decreased with addition of Nd₂O₃ irrespective of the sintering technique.

Keywords

• Neodymia-doped yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramics (Nd₂O₃-doped 8mol% YSZ)
• Cubic zirconia
• Powder metallurgy
• Microwave sintering
• Crystal structure
• Vickers hardness
• microstructure
• X-ray diffraction (XRD)
• Lattice parameter
• Grain size