Investigation of optical, mechanical, and thermal properties of ZrO2-doped Y2O3 transparent ceramics fabricated by HIP

Abstract Highly transparent ZrO 2 -doped Y 2 O 3 ceramics were successfully synthesized using the hot isostatic pressing (HIP) process. The effects of the ZrO 2 content on the sintering behaviors, optical transmission spectra, Vickers hardness, grain size, size distribution, and Raman spectra were determined. The results indicated that decreased ZrO 2 content could promote increased transmittance, red-shifted infrared cutoff wavelength, increased thermal conductivity, decreased Vickers hardness, and increased lattice ordering. According to the optical transmission spectra, the optimized ZrO 2 content was 0.50 at%, at which point the ceramic exhibited a larger pre-sintering temperature range of 1650–1750 °C and the average grain size of 3.35 µm at 1750 °C. The grain size was significantly decreased at lower pre-sintering temperatures. Furthermore, a moderate Vickers hardness of 8.42 GPa and high thermal conductivity of 10.85 W/m K at room temperature were obtained for the optimized ceramic.