GRABIS Janis, JANKOVICA Dzidra, STEINS Ints, SMITS Krisjanis,and SIPOLA Inta
Abstract. The characteristics and sinterability of the Al2O3-ZrO2(Y2O3) nanoparticles produced by
simple and effective microwave and molten salts methods and processed by using spark plasma
sintering were studied and compared. The crystalline powders with the specific surface area in the
range of 72–108 m2/g and crystallite size of 5–13 nm were obtained by calcination of samples
prepared by both methods at 800 oC. The content of t-ZrO2 phase depends on concentration of
Al2O3, Y2O3 and on calcination temperature but the impact of the preparation method is
insignificant. The phase transition of tetragonal ZrO2 to monoclinic for the samples without Y2O3
started at 1000 oC though it was incomplete in the case of high content of Al2O3. The bulk materials
with relative density of 86.1–98.7% were fabricated by the spark plasma sintering method at 1500–
1600 oC depending on the content of Al2O3 and Y2O3.
Advances in Science and Technology Vol. 87 (2014) pp 30-35
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AST.87.30