Characterization of zirconia composites with nickel particles
Justyna Zygmuntowicz, Aleksandra Miazga, Joanna Łoś, Katarzyna Konopka
Quarterly No. 2, 2017 pages 109-113
DOI:
keywords: Ni-3YSZ system, ceramic-metal composites, uniaxial pressing
abstract The aim of this paper was to characterize the microstructure and selected properties of Ni-3YSZ composites. The composites were prepared from a powder mixture containing 90 vol.% ZrO2 and 10 vol.% nickel powder. In the experiments the following powders were used: ZrO2 powder stabilized by 3 mol% Y2O3 from TOSOH ZIRCONIA 3YSZ of an average particle size less than 100 nm and density 6.05 g/cm3 and Ni powder from Sigma-Aldrich of an average particle size 1.5 µm and density 8.9 g/cm3. The samples were formed by uniaxial pressing. Two series of samples were fabricated with different sintering temperatures: series I was sintered at 1400°C and series II was sintered at 1600°C. The sintering process was conducted in an argon atmosphere. The structure of the samples was examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) after sintering. The microstructure of the composites was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical composition was examined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The selected physical properties of the prepared composites was measured by the Archimedes method. The hardness was measured using Vickers hardness testing. Based on the hardness measurements the KIC values were determined. Uniaxial pressing and the sintering method enabled the manufacture of Ni-3YSZ composites. The microstructure observation revealed homogeneous distribution of the Ni particles in the ZrO2 matrix in both series. The XRD patterns of the composites after sintering at 1400°C (series I) and 1600°C (series II) show that the composites consisted of three phases: t-ZrO2, m-ZrO2 and Ni. It was found that the temperature of 1400°C is not sufficient to obtain Ni-3YSZ composites with a high relative density.