Spark plasma sintering and characterization of 2Y-TZP ceramics

Abstract A systematic study of various spark plasma sintering (SPS) parameters, namely temperature, holding time and applied pressure, was conducted to investigate their effect on the densification, microstructure and mechanical properties of 2Y-TZP ceramics. The obtained results demonstrated that 2Y-TZP can be fully densified at 1300–1600 °C within several minutes. Extending holding time resulted in a more significant grain growth at a higher sintering temperature but no remarkable change in density at a lower sintering temperature. Fully compacted samples could be attained with an applied pressure of 50 MPa at 1300 °C, at a 50 °C lower temperature than in the experiments with an applied pressure of 20 MPa. A critical grain size of 733 nm was revealed, corresponding to the fracture toughness maximum of 9.73±0.38 MPa m 1/2 . Furthermore, the optimal SPS conditions have been discussed and suggested in order to obtain a good combination of density and favorable fracture toughness.