The Effects of a Zirconia Addition on the Compressive Strength of Reticulated Porous Zirconia-Toughened Alumina

Porous ceramics have attracted researchers due to their high chemical and thermal stability. Among various types of porous ceramics, reticulated porous ceramics have both high porosity and good permeability. These properties of porous ceramics are difficult to replace with porous metals and polymers. ZTA is used in a variety of applications, and a wealth of experimental data has already been collected. However, research reports on reticulated porous zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) are insufficient. Therefore, we prepared reticulated porous ZTA via the replica template method. In this study, various processing conditions (average particle size, zirconia content, solid loading, dispersant, and thickener) were adjusted to improve the compressive strength of the reticulated porous ZTA. As a result, the optimized processing conditions for improving the compressive strength of reticulated porous ZTA could be determined.