The influence of washing and calcination condition on urea-derived ceria-yttria-doped tetragonal zirconia powders

The influence of washing and calcination conditions on the powder characteristics of urea-derived ceria-yttria-doped tetragonal zirconia powders (Ce-Y-TZP) ceramics are studied. The use of urea hydrolysis followed by acetone–toluene–acetone (ATA) washing can produce a finer and more sinterable Ce-Y-TZP powder as compared to that washed by alcohol. It is observed that as the calcination temperature is raised to 800°C for 2 h, the sintered density achieves the highest value regardless of the increase of monoclinic content in as-derived powders. The higher the calcination temperature, the more the monoclinic content. The transformability of tetragonal phase is related to the As temperature and tetragonality. The monoclinic content in as-derived powders after calcination and ball-milling processes is proportional to the As temperature and tetragonality of tetragonal phase.