Crystallite size and phase transition demeanor of ceramic steel

Zirconia is an important oxide of zirconium used in variety of field ranging from dentistry, fuel cells, and thermal barrier coatings. Phase transition of zirconia is an important phenomenon controlling its fracture strength, low temperature degradability and ion conductivity. In the present study, effect of molar concentration of precursor and calcination temperature on phase transition and crystallite size of zirconia was investigated. All the samples were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Differential Thermal Analysis/Thermogravimetric Analysis (DTA/TGA), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In sample having lowest precursor concentration crystallite size of monoclinic zirconia was found to be lower than that of tetragonal zirconia, simultaneously with the higher proportion of tetragonal zirconia (67.62%) as compared to all other samples (42.75%–58.04%). In all cases, monoclinic to tetragonal phase transition occurs with raise of temperature but in the sample with lowest precursor concentration, tetragonal to monoclinic phase transition occurred on raising the temperature. - Graphical abstract: Display Omitted - Highlights: • Highest proportion of tetragonal phase at lowest precursor concentration. • Tetragonal phase's crystallite size decreased with rise of temperature. • Average particle size of all samples lies in the range of 13 nm–20 nm