Enhancement of thermal shock and slag corrosion resistance of MgO–ZrO2 ceramics by doping CeO2

The purpose of this paper was to develop ceramics materials with high thermal shock resistance and corrosion resistance for preparing gas blowing components. In this paper, MgO-rich MgO–ZrO₂ ceramics were obtained by using MgO powder and ZrO₂ powder as starting materials and CeO₂ as an additive. Changes in the properties in terms of thermal shock resistance, mechanical properties, and slag corrosion-resistance with chemical compositions were examined correlated to microstructure and phase changes. Especially, the effect of doping CeO₂ on phase transition of zirconia in MgO-rich system was discussed. The results showed that doping amount of CeO₂ significantly improved properties of MgO–ZrO₂ ceramics. Especially when doping amount of CeO₂ was 2 wt%, residual strength ratio was enhanced over 100% after thermal shock testing. In samples doped with CeO₂, ZrO₂ was stable in cubic or tetragonal form due to complete solution of CeO₂, which was important reason for the improvement of various properties of MgO–ZrO₂ ceramics.