Sintering and microstructure of glass-coated nanocrystalline yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia powder: Effect of the glass

Nanocrystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia (nc-Y-TZP) powders coated with 1 0 vol% sodium strontium silicate glass were prepared by the sol-gel method. The glass is found to uniformly coat the zirconia particles or particle ag gregates. The presence of the glass was found to enhance the densification of the powder compacts leading to 97% of the theoretical density compared t o 90% in the pure nc-Y-TZP. It also resulted in a fine microstructure, homo geneous particle shape, and narrow size distribution. The polyhedral-shaped faceted grains in the sintered pure Y-TZP were converted to round-shaped g rains in the glass containing specimens.