Study on the effect and mechanism of zirconia on the sinterability of yttria transparent ceramic

Transparent Y2O3 ceramics were fabricated by solid-state reaction using high purity Y2O3 and ZrO2 powder as starting material. The results indicated that ZrO2 additive can improve the transparency of Y2O3 ceramic greatly. The best transmittance appears with 3 at.% ZrO2 doped Y2O3 transparent ceramic with transmittance at 1100 nm of 83.1%, which is up to 98.6% of the theoretical value. The microstructure is uniform and no secondary phase is observed in the ceramic with the average grain size of 15 μm. The mechanism of ZrO2 improving the transparency of Y2O3 ceramic is analyzed in detail. On this basis, Yb3+ doped Y2O3 transparent ceramic was also fabricated and spectroscopic properties were investigated.