Preparation of transparent Y2O3 ceramic by slip casting and vacuum sintering

In the present work transparent Y2O3 ceramics were made by slip casting and vacuum sintering of nanopowders with sodium polyacrylic acid (PAA-Na) as dispersant. The rheological properties of Y2O3 nanopowder slurry were investigated using different amounts of dispersant and solid contents. The microstructures and transmittance of the sintered ceramics were also studied by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and ultra-violet visible spectrometry. The results showed that rheological behaviors of the Y2O3 nanopowder slurry were effectively promoted by sodium polyacrylic acid. Highly dispersive and stable slurries were obtained as the dispersant was added over 1.0 dwb% under the fixed conditions of pH 11 and 45 wt.% solid content. All the slip cast green bodies were sintered into highly dense ceramics after sintering at 1700 °C for 5 h in vacuum, wherein the sample added with 1.1% sodium polyacrylic acid exhibited the highest relative density of 99.36% and transmission of 30% at 800 nm wavelength.