Theoretical study of densification of nano-sized 3Y-TZP powder: density-grain growth coupling model

Abstract

Ultra fine-grained ceramic components, which can be obtained by densification of nano-sized powder, can provide excellent mechanical properties for many advanced applications. A better understanding of the densification process of such nano-ceramic materials could provide more insight on the processing of these materials. In this article, a constitutive model, with density and grain size as coupling state variables, was developed to describe the pressureless sintering of nano-sized 3Y-TZP materials. The sintering mechanism and essential sintering parameters were studied. It is found that interface reaction mechanism describes the process well and is proposed to be the dominant mechanism during the densification of nano-sized material.