D. Jayaseelan et al., PRESSURELESS SINTERING OF SOL-GEL DERIVED ALUMINA-ZIRCONIA COMPOSITES, Materials science & engineering. A, Structural materials: properties, microstructure and processing, 256(1-2), 1998, pp. 265-270
Alumina-zirconia (pure zirconia, 12 mol % ceria stabilized zirconia an
d 3 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia) composites containing 5, 10, 15,
20 and 25 vol.% zirconia were prepared by sol-gel technique. The proce
dure involved the following steps: preparation of stable (hydrous) alu
mina and zirconia sole, mixing of sols in proper ratio, to obtain the
final precursor with the desired composition and finally stabilizing t
he mixed sols. Thermal analysis was carried out for the dried precurso
r. The sol-gel derived precursors were calcined at different temperatu
res and their crystallization behavior was studied using X-ray diffrac
tion (XRD) technique. Samples calcined at 950 degrees C sintered well
than those calcined at other temperatures. All the samples were sinter
ed at 1530 degrees C for 3 h by pressureless sintering, which yield up
to 99.8% of the theoretical density of the composite. (C) 1998 Elsevie
r Science S.A. All rights reserved.