Correlation between surface nanotopography and sintering behaviour of zirconia powders

The influence of surface nanotopography of ceramic powders on their sintering behaviour was studied. ZrO2-3 mol% Y2O3 powders were prepared by sol-gel techniques and calcined at different temperature in order to obtain powders showing different nanostructural properties. After compaction and sintering, strong differences in microstructure and mechanical properties were found in the sintered bodies. In order to correlate the powders' different sintering behaviour to their nanostructural properties, HRTEM and FTIR analyses were carried out. It is suggested that the temperature of calcination strongly influences the distribution of surface crystallographic configurations (i.e. surface nanotopography) which, in turn, have a predominant role in the microstructural development during sintering.