Effect of ball milling time and reaction solution concentration for preparation of irregular shape zirconia toughened alumina ceramic particles by alginate sol-gel method

In this study, we come up with a new sol-gel approach to prepare ZTA ceramic particles. Alginate was used as gelatinizer and special-shaped ZTA ceramic particles green bodies were made. After forming process, ZTA ceramic particles green bodies were prepared in different ball milling times and different reaction solution concentration and then sintered at different temperatures. The results shows that when the green body were prepared for 10 h ball milling and 0.5 mol/L reaction solution concentration, when sintered at 1400 °C, the ZTA ceramic particles has the best performance. Phase composition analyses revealed that ZTA ceramic particles by Alginate sol-gel method were mainly α-Al2O3 and ZrO2. SEM results and the face elements analyzation showed that the above sintered ZTA ceramic particles have the fine grain size and confirm the excellent performance.