Pressureless and hot-pressing sintering of Ce-TZP/Al_2O_3 composite ceramics

The microstructures and mechanical properties of Ce - TZP/Al_2O_3 ceramics prepared by pressureless and hot - pressing sintering were investigated. It was shown that, the hot - pressed samples with a relative density of 98.6% reached full densification at sintering temperature of 1400℃, holding time of 1h and pressure of 20MPa, this result was attributed to the external pressure promoting and accelerating the process of densification, whereas the pressureless - sintered samples with a relative density of 97.5% were fully densified at 1500℃, additionally, the mechanical properties of the hot - pressed samples with fine grains were better than that of pressureless samples.