Preparation of novel Ti–Y/ZrO2 ceramic by two-step of mechanical alloying and microwave-assisted sintering process

Zirconia composite ceramic materials are popular for their many excellent properties. In this study, nTi-3Y-ZrO2 composite ceramics were produced by the mechanical alloying-microwave sintering method with different Ti-doping amounts and microwave sintering temperatures. The sample's phase composition, stability rate, lattice parameters, micromorphology, relative density, and grain size are characterized. The results showed that when the sintering temperature is 1200 °C, the samples with different doping amounts are mainly mixed crystalline structures with tetragonal and cubic phases, and the stability rate remains above 90%. As TiO2 doping increases, the lattice parameters a(Å) and b(Å)first increase and then decrease, while the lattice parameter c (Å) shows an overall increasing trend. Raman data demonstrated that the increase in Ti content promoted the generation of tetragonal phase zirconia. The average grain size is 61.33 nm, 76.23 nm, 58.77 nm, 63.35 nm, and 68.99 nm, respectively. The increase in doping is also accompanied by a narrowing of the grain size distribution, which increases the sintering activity of the sample. In addition, the relative densities of the samples were 67.85%, 73.94%, 84.25%, 84.87%, and 77.54%, respectively, showing a gradual increasing trend overall. When the microwave sintering temperature is 1200 °C, and the doping amount is 5Ti-3Y-92Zr, the performance of the sample is superior to other groups. The preparation of nTi-3Y-ZrO2 composite ceramics can provide certain ideas for preparing ceramic materials with excellent performance in various aspects.