Microwave sintering of CuO-doped Y-TZP ceramics.

The present work investigated the sintering behaviour and mechanical properties of 0.2 % copper oxide (CuO) doped 3 mol% yttria-tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP) via microwave sintering. The microwave (MWV) sintered samples were heated at temperatures varying from 1100 to 1400 °C, with a heating rate of 30 °C/min for 5 minutes. These samples were then assessed and compared with the conventional (CV) sintered samples that were executed at a lower heating rate (10 °C/min). At 1250 °C and above, a high hardness of about 14.4 GPa was recorded by CV and MWV-sintered Y-TZP samples that doped with 0.2 wt% CuO. It was revealed that sintering temperature was the key parameter governing grain growth for densities above 96% regardless of sintering techniques employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]