In the present study, the novel technique of two-step sintering was applied on TiO2 ceramic nanopowder to suppress accelerated grain growth during densification. A dense, uniform and ultrafine-grain ceramics were hence fabricated at a temperature lower than that of the conventional methods. While the grain size of is ~2 μm for full dense structures produced by conventional sintering, application of two-step sintering has led to a remarkable grain size decline to ~250 nm. Two-step sintering accompanied with anatase to rutile phase transformation led to formation of structure with an average grain size of ~100 nm.
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