Effect of Microwave Sintering on the Properties of Zirconia Based Ceramic Electrolytes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

In this work, the effect of microwave sintering on the properties of scandia doped zirconia (10 mol% scandia in zirconia) was investigated. The sample was prepared by mixed oxide method and the sintering was done at the temperature of 1400℃ for 20 min using a 2.45 GHz microwave furnace. Sintering behavior of this microwave sintered ceramics was compared with the corresponding conventional sintered ceramics, sintered at 1400℃ for 6 h in a conventional furnace. It was found that both the sintering processes produced highly dense samples. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the presence of only cubic structure in both the samples. Scanning electron microscopy study was done for micro-structural analysis. Further, electrical conductivity was studied from room temperature to 500℃ in the frequency range of 1 kHz to 1 MHz. Higher ionic conductivity was recorded for microwave sintered sample than the corresponding conventional sintered sample. (author)