Sintering of zirconia ceramics by intense high-energy electron beam

A comparative analysis of the efficiency of zirconia ceramics sintering by thermal method and high-energy electron beam sintering was performed for compacts prepared from commercial TZ-3Y-E grade powder. The electron energy was 1.4 MeV. The samples were sintered in the temperature range of 1200-1400 degrees C. Sintering of zirconia ceramics by high-energy accelerated electron beam is shown to reduce the firing temperature by about 200 degrees C compared to that in conventional heating technique. Ceramics sintered by accelerated electron beam at 1200 degrees C is of high density, microhardness and smaller grain size compared to that produced by thermal firing at 1400 degrees C. Electron beam sintering at higher temperature causes deterioration of ceramics properties due to radiation-induced acceleration of high-temperature recrystallization at higher temperatures. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.