Precursor scavenging of the resistive grain-boundary phase in 8 mol/100 yttria-stabilized zirconia: Effect of trace concentrations of SiO_2

摘要

The influence that trace concentrations of siO_2 have on improving grain-boundary conduction via precursor scavenging using additional heat treatment at 1200d deg. C for 40 h before sintering was investigated. At a SiO_2-impurity level (SIL)≤160 ppm by weight, the grain-boundary resistivity (ρ_gb) decreased to 20/100 of its value, while no improvement in grain-boundary conduction was found at a SIL≥310 ppm.