Investigation of sintering behavior of ZrO2 (Y) ceramic green body by means of non-isothermal dilatometry and thermokinetic analysis

Using the method of dilatometry, kinetic characteristics of compacts shrinkage manufactured from ultrafine plasmochemical ZrO2 (Y) powders and commercial Tosoh’s powders are investigated. The shrinkage curves are constructed with a DIL 402 C high-sensitivity dilatometer in a non-isothermal heating mode at different heating rates (1, 2, 5 and 10 °C min−1). It is shown that the plasmochemical powders are characterized by a lower sintering efficiency than the Tosoh’s powders. The kinetic results are processed using a Netzsch Thermokinetics license software program developed for those who make use of devices manufactured by the Netzsch-Geratebau GmbH. The kinetic characteristics of compact shrinkage are determined as a function of partial length variation using Friedman’s analysis. Considerable differences are found between the values of apparent shrinkage activation energy for plasmochemical and Tosoh’s powders in the initial and final shrinkage stages. We attribute the mentioned differences in phase composition of the powders and their degree of agglomeration. In the intermediate shrinkage stage, the values of the apparent activation energy obtained for both types of powders have only marginal differences.