Papers by Keyword: Ce-TZP

Abstract: Mixtures of 12 mol% CeO2-stabilised ZrO2 with 5 to 20 wt % Al2O3 were prepared and densified through pressureless sintering in air at 1450° C for 1 to 4 h. The influence of the Al2O3 content and sintering time on the phase constitution, microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-sintered composites were investigated. Fully dense Ce-TZP/Al2O3 ceramics with a good combination of hardness and fracture toughness can be obtained by pressureless sintering in air for only 1 h. The addition of Al2O3 to Ce-TZP improves the mechanical properties and suppresses ZrO2 grain growth. The average ZrO2 grain size increases with increasing sintering time and decreasing Al2O3 content. This leads to an increase in toughness. An excellent fracture toughness of 14.3 MPam1/2 in combination with a Vickers hardness of 9.14 GPa was obtained for 12 mol % CeO2-TZP with 5 wt % Al2O3, sintered for 4 h.

Abstract: CeO2-stabilised ZrO2-based functionally graded materials (FGMs) can be successfully produced using electrophoretic deposition and pressureless sintering in air. A cylindrical Al2O3/ZrO2 FGM, for instance, shows an ideal structure for applications such as drill blanks. It has a central hole with a diameter less than 0.5 mm, a tough Ce-ZrO2 core with a diameter of about 3 mm, a gradient layer of about 1 mm, and a hard Al2O3-rich surface layer. The Ce-ZrO2 core shows a Vickers hardness between 10 and 11 GPa and an excellent toughness (>10 MPa m1/2). In the gradient layer, hardness and toughness vary continuously along the radius. The Al2O3-rich surface layer has a hardness of 15.2 GPa but a modest toughness of 2 MPa m1/2. Annealing experiments of the air-sintered FGM in inert atmosphere (Ar + 5 vol % N2) allows a significant toughness enhancement, especially in the surface layer (up to 8 MPa m1/2). The experimental results indicate that a proper controlled reduction of the Ce-TZP phase allows a modification of the toughness of the Ce-TZP phase. The influence of the annealing cycle on the properties of the FGM are reported and elucidated.