Nanocrystalline zirconia powder processing through innovative wet-chemical methods

Two wet-chemical routes were used for the synthesis of nanosized Y-TZP powders with good characteristics for the preparation of nano-ZrO2 ceramics. By using heterogenous n-butanol azeotropic distillation in the treatment of an aqueous coprecipitated gel, weakly agglomerated and sinterable nano-ZrO2 powder was produced with which high density (99.5%) and fine-grained (similar to 200 nm) ZrO2 ceramics were obtained. With the emulsion method, the ZrO2 powder is nearly equiaxed or even spherical agglomerates composed of nanometric primary particles. The in-situ distillation process also effectively removed residual water from the gelled particles within droplets. The prepared powders present good formability.