Structure-property relations for a phase-pure,nanograined tetragonal zirconia ceramic stabilized with minimum CaO doping |
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Authors: | Aditya Arun Lakshaman Kumar Anirban Chowdhury |
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Affiliation: | MAPS (Materials Process - Structure correlations) Laboratory, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar, India |
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Abstract: | Dense (~97%) CaO-stabilized ZrO2 ceramic was stabilized with minimum (3 mol%) doping (reported to date) and processed via conventional sintering at a low temperature (~1200°C); compositional analysis via X-ray florescence confirmed the CaO doping accuracy. Phase-pure tetragonal structure (characterized via both X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy) along with uniform nanograins (90 nm) of the ceramic ensured the evolution of no monoclinic phase even after vigorous low-temperature degradation experiments (both thermal and hydrothermal aging for 80-100 h). The sintered ceramic recorded a high hardness (~15 GPa); the indentation toughness value was also comparable to a 3 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia system. The remarkable structure–property correlations in the 3 mol% CaO-stabilized ZrO2 ceramic suggests that the same may be worth examining for suitable future applications (e.g., in dental ceramics). |
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Keywords: | CaO-stabilized ZrO2 ceramics hardness powder processing toughness |
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