Cold sintering process for 8 mol%Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 ceramics

In this communication, the cold sintering process was applied to benefit the green body compaction of 8 mol%Y2O3-stablized ZrO2 ceramics (8Y-YSZ). Compared to conventionally processed ceramics, an enhanced densification behavior was demonstrated in cold sintering related ones following a second step conventional sintering process. Dense ceramics up to similar to 96% of theoretical density were achieved after sintering at 1200 degrees C. The resulted ceramics demonstrated a fine microstructure with a grain size similar to 200nm. A mechanical performance with a Vickers hardness of 13.6 GPa and a fracture toughness of 2.85 MPa m(1/2) was also reported. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.