Two step sintering of cubic yttria stabilized zirconia using Field Assisted Sintering Technique/Spark Plasma Sintering

Starting from homogenous highly packed green bodies, two sintering methods have been combined in order to limit grain growth during the densification of fully stabilized zirconia. Densification behavior and microstructures in relation with green body shaping have been investigated. It could be shown that two step sintering schedules carried out by FAST/SPS are very effective in reducing both processing time and grain growth.