Densification and microstructure evolution of Y-Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystal powder during direct and hybrid microwave sintering in a single-mode cavity

The densification and microstructure changes of 2 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia nanopowder have been investigated during direct and hybrid microwave sintering. Microwave heating tests were achieved in a resonant single-mode cavity at 2.45 GHz and a cylindrical SiC susceptor was used for hybrid sintering experiments. Constant heating rate runs (25 °C/min) were controlled by adjusting the position of a sliding piston at constant forward microwave power. The temperature on the upper surface of the specimen was measured with an infrared camera. The final densities and the microstructures observed by SEM were compared to those of conventionally sintered materials. Homogeneous microstructures have been obtained by hybrid heating whereas direct microwave heating led to rather heterogeneous microstructures due to thermal gradients. Nevertheless, microwave-sintered materials always exhibited higher final densities for a given sintering temperature. This significant enhancement of the densification process was particularly observed in the intermediate sintering stage (1200–1350 °C range). Besides, grain growth was found to be mainly influenced by the sintering temperature rather than by the heating mode.