Influence of CeO2 Additive on the Phase Transformations of Zirconia from Zircon Ore by Carbothermal Reduction Process

This paper mainly discusses the influences of heating temperatures and CeO2additive contents on the phase transformations of zirconia from zircon ore by carbothermal reduction. The phase transformations of zirconia from zircon ore by carbothermal reduction were monitored by X-ray diffraction. The microstructure of the product was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The results show that without adding CeO2, the optimized heating temperature of zircon carbothermal reduction was 1600 °C and the main phases of the product were m-ZrO2, ZrC and β-SiC, t-ZrO2; After adding CeO2, the main phase of the products consists of t-ZrO2, m-ZrO2, ZrC and β-SiC when the heating temperature is 1600 °C. CeO2additive can be introduced into zirconia lattice and can cause it to form cerium stabilized zirconia. Zirconia in the product would be turned into partially stabilized zirconia with cerium addition from 5 wt% to 20 wt%. However, the form of zirconia in the product is not changed greatly with the amount of CeO2additive increase.