The spherical and dense alumina nanoparticles were used to prepare alumina microcrystalline ceramics. The effect of granulation and sintering parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the ceramics was studied. The results show that fine green body can be obtained with the addition of 0.8% (mass fraction) PVA, and the density of green body can also be improved. With the increase of sintering temperature from 1400℃ to 1550℃, the density is increased from 74.1% to 97.5%, while the grain size of the ceramics is only increased gradually from 0.6 μm to 1.4 μm owing to the stable spherical shape and the uniformly packed pores. With the increase of holding time from 30 min to 120 min at 1550℃, the porosity is decreased from 4.8% to 0.4%, and the grain size is then increased from 1.2 μm to 2.7 μm. Besides, the sintering activation energy of the employed spheres is 788 kJ/mol, which proves that the particles are inactive during earlier and medium stage of sintering, and the spheres are benefit to obtain microcrystalline ceramics. The ceramic sintered at 1550℃ for 90 min has a density of 98.9%, an average grain size of 1.6 μm, a hardness of 26.4 GPa and a bending strength of 574 MPa.
Fig.5 1550 ℃烧结不同时间获得陶瓷的微观形貌 (a)30 min;(b)60 min;(c)90 min;(d)120 min
Temperature/℃
Time/min
Grain size/nm
1400
0
450
30
580
60
640
90
660
120
670
1450
0
650
30
870
60
930
90
1060
120
1180
1500
0
850
30
1010
60
1120
90
1200
120
1240
Table 1 烧结温度和时间对晶粒尺寸的影响
T/℃
R2
n=2
n=3
n=4
1400
0.94806
0.97206
0.99022
1450
0.99795
0.99434
0.95502
1500
0.98438
0.97741
0.97505
Table 2 生长级数n与线性回归参数R2的关系
Fig.6 晶粒粒径与烧结时间的关系
Fig.7 晶粒生长活化能计算
Fig.8 烧结温度(a)和烧结时间(b)对陶瓷硬度的影响
Fig.9 烧结温度(a)和保温时间(b)对陶瓷弯曲强度的影响
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