Spark plasma sintering and characterization of bulk nanostructured fully stabilized zirconia: Part I. Densification studies

The sintering of nanosize powders of fully stabilized zirconia was investigated using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) method. The influence of sintering temperature, heating rate, direct current pulse pattern, sintering time, and sintering pressure on the final density and grain size of the product was investigated. The dependence of densification on temperature showed a maximum at 1200 °C, resulting with nearly fully dense zirconia with a crystallite size of about 100 nm. Heating rate (50∼300 °C min⁻¹) and sintering time (5–16 min) had no significant influence on the final density and the crystallite size. Pulsing patterns ranging from 2:2 to 48:2 (on:off) had no influence on the density or the crystallite size. However, the applied pressure had a significant influence on the final density but no apparent effect on crystallite size for a sintering temperature of 1200 °C and a hold time of 5 min.