Alumina-Mullite-Zirconia ceramic composites were prepared by reaction sintering of alumina, zircon mixture and the sintering aids of magnesia and titania at temperatures of 1400 and 1600 C for 2 hours. The development of different phases and microstructures of the composites were analysed to assess the relative influence of the additives on the formation of alumina-zirconia-mullite compos...

Simultaneous application of colloidal processing and liquidforming additives to alumina resulted in a sintered density of >99% in 1 h at a temperature as low as 1070°C for a commercial high-purity alumina powder at a total dopant level of 2 mol%. The additives were 0.9% CuO + 0.9% TiOz + 0.1% B 2 0 3 + 0.1% MgO. At higher temperatures or after prolonged sintering, the doped alumina ceramic deve...

The interface atomic structure was proposed to have a critical effect on the microstructure evolution during sintering of ceramic materials. In liquid-phase sintering, spherical grains show the normal grain growth behavior without exception, while angular grains often grow abnormally. The coarsening process of spherical grains with a disordered or rough interface atomic structure is diffusion-c...

Microwave processing is emerging as an innovative and highly effective material processing method offering many advantages over conventional methods, especially for sintering applications. It is recognized for its various advantages, such as: time and energy saving, rapid heating rates, considerably reduced processing cycle time and temperature, fine microstructures and improved mechanical prop...

Doped ceria has been considered for high oxygen ion conductivity for solid oxide fuel cells. In the present study, 20 mole% samarium doped nano ceria powder was prepared by wet chemical synthesis and sintered at different temperatures to retain submicron grains (> 92-96% density). ionic conductivity of the sintered pellets was measured using impedance spectroscopy as a function of temperature (...

The problem of microwave enhanced mass transport in solids remains an area of great interest and continued research in the microwave processing of materials. Many researchers have reported that microwave sintering of materials reduces the time and often the temperature of the sintering procedure [1]. The mechanisms of the mass transport enhancement phenomenon by microwaves termed “Microwave Eff...

Lead free potassium sodium niobate (KNN) piezoceramics were synthesized via conventional solid state sintering route. Nano and micron WO3 were separately added to KNN through ball-milling. Dielectric and piezoelectric properties of samples sintered in the temperature range of 1110°-1145°C were measured by precision LCR-meter and APC d33-meter devices. The results revealed that micron WO3 partic...

Shape and size of the synthesized NiO nano-sheets were retained during transformation of sheet-like b-Ni(OH)2 to NiO at elevated temperatures via nano-sized zirconia coating on the surface of b-Ni(OH)2. The average grain size was 6.42 nm after 600 C treatment and slightly increased to 10 nm after 1000 C treatment, showing effective sintering retardation between NiO nano-sheets. The excellent th...

(Ti,Zr)C powder was sintered with WC-Co following an industrial process, including an isotherm at 1410 °C. A series of interrupted sintering trials was performed with the aim of studying the sintering behavior and the microstructural evolution during both solid-state and liquid-state sintering. Reference samples, using the same elemental compositions but with the starting components TiC and ZrC...