Preparation of nanostructured YSZ granules by the spray drying method

The suspensions of nanosized YSZ powder with different binder (polyvinyl alcohol, PVA) contents were agglomerated into plasma sprayable feedstocks. The agglomeration was performed by the spray drying method. Two types of morphologies (spherical and non-spherical) were obtained after spray drying of the ball milled and non-ball milled nanopowders. The suitable granules size distributions (25-150 mu m, average size=45 +/- 3 mu m) with good apparent density (before calcination treatment=800 kg/m(3) and after calcination=900 kg/m(3)) and flowability (before calcination=0.31 g/s and after calcination=0.41 g/s) for plasma spraying were obtained with 5 wt% PVA and calcination temperature up to 800 degrees C. Finally, the correlation between the granules shape and the resulting coating porosity and thermal insulation capability was investigated. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.