Sintering of Advanced Ceramic Materials

Abstract

Sintering is a one of the key step in a processing of bulk ceramic materials. New sintering methods were invented in the last years. These new sintering methods, according to their authors, can be used for obtaining finer final microstructure of ceramics only by modifying the heating schedule. This work is focused on an influence of the Two Step Sintering method on the final microstructure for oxide ceramics. Obtained experimental results have shown that the effectivity of the Two Step Sintering method is rising with crystallographic symmetry of used material. Thesis is also focused on a high-temperature dilatometry and concept of the Master Sintering Curve. This concept was used for calculation of the activation energy of sintering and finding different sintering mechanisms acting in the intermediate and final stage of sintering. Activation energy of sintering was compared with activation energy of grain growth with target to find the kinetic window. Kinetic window can allow a sintering without a grain growth. Master Sintering Curve method was also used in a pressure assisted unconventional sintering technique Spark Plasma Sintering. Master Sintering Curve applied to a Spark Plasma Sintering technique reveals and quantified different sintering mechanisms acting in Spark Plasma Sintering. These findings led to preparation of transparent tetragonal ZrO2