Two-step sintering of nanocrystalline 8Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 synthesized by glycine nitrate process

Two-step sintering was used to consolidate nanocrystalline 8 mol% yttria stabilised zirconia processed by the glycine-nitrate method. Results verified the applicability of this method to suppress the final stage of grain growth in the system. The grain size of the high density compacts ( > 97%) produced by the two-step sintering method was seven times less than the pieces made by the conventional sintering technique. Up to about 96% increase in the fracture toughness was seen (i.e. from 1.61 to 3.16 MPa.m1/2) with decreasing the grain size from about 2.15 to about 295 nm. A better densification behaviour was also observed at higher compacting pressures. 4