Evaluation of Zirconia Ceramic Processed by Digital Light 3D Printing Applicated as Solid-Electrolyte Sensor

Abstract

Zirconia slurry aimed to apply in digital light process (DLP) printing technology were made of the 3 mol% yttrium oxide (Y2O3) stabilized micro-nano zirconium dioxide (3YSZ) powders. An overall mechanical strength can be obtained via a precise control of two-step sintering process. The results show that Y2O3 in 3YSZ would diffuses into the ceramic lattice, further stabilizing the metastable tetragonal zirconia (t-ZrO2) toughening phase in sub-micro sized grains with nearly 100% crystal phase transition ratio. The Vickers hardness of sintered ceramic parts reaches 12.94 ± 0.186 GPa. The fracture toughness (KIC) of sintered ceramics is 5.63 ± 0.015 MPa·m1/2. The propagation law of Vickers crack reveals the mechanism of strengthening and toughening of fine grains on matrix fracture toughness. Due to the uniform crystals also can make the corrosion better to construct a three-phase boundary sensitive process, the response of the T-ZrO2-SnO2 to 30 ppm NH3 is 15.7 mV which is 2 times more than the commercial ZrO2. A relative short response and recovery times of 6 s and 33 s can achieve with a good reproducibility of continuous response and recovery transients.