Effect of Different Metal Oxide Additives on the Physicochemical Characteristics of Zirconia Nanoparticles Produced via Pulsation Reactor Process

摘要

A pulsed chemical reactor process was applied to produce a new generation of partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) nanoparticles. Different salts were used as cheap precursors to produce these types of fine powders. Physico-chemical characteristics of the fabricated powders such as powder morphology, specific surface area, thermal behaviour, phase identification were studied. The results show that the added metal oxides such as, Y{sub}2O{sub}3, CaO, MgO and CeO{sub}2 have a great effect on the behaviour of the fabricated zirconia powders. The influence of added metal oxides on the densification behaviour and microstructure of the compact zirconia samples applying different parameters such as, sintering temperature, heating rate and socking time was investigated and optimized. The results show that the PSZ powders produced by pulsation reactor process and having a composition of (96 Mol.% ZrO{sub}2 - 4 Mol.%Y{sub}2O{sub}3) give the highest densification value of 95% relative density with minimum open porosity value (0.1 vol.%) as well as homogeneous particle size and particle size distribution ranging between 0.1-0.3μm after thermal treatment at a temperature of 1450°C for 2 hours.