Agglomeration of 3 mol% Y–TZP powders sythesized by hydrothermal treatment

Mechanical mixtures of zirconia gel and crystalline Y2O3 (3 mol%) have been hydrothermally treated at 110°C for 7 days in the presence of different mineralizer solutions. Taking the K2CO3/KOH molar ratio constant and equal 3, the total concentration of the mineralizer solutions was changed between 0.25 and 3.0 M. Predominant tetragonal (T) ZrO2, characterized by different crystal size and different degree of agglomeration resulted by changing the concentration of mineralizer solution. The crystallization rate of Y-TPZ based powders, as well as the texture of the corresponding sintered products, are discussed in terms of concentration of the mineralizer solutions.