Affiliations: [a] Universitat Politècnica de València, Instituto de Tecnología de Materiales, Valencia, Spain | [b] Universitat Politècnica de València, Instituto de Aplicaciones de las Tecnologías de la Información y de las Comunicaciones Avanzadas (ITACA), Valencia, Spain | [c] Centro de Investigación en Nanomateriales y Nanotecnología (CINN) (CSIC-UO-PA), El Entrego, Asturias, Spain | [d] Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, MAG\_Microwave Application Group, Dipartimento di Ingegneria “Enzo Ferrari”, Modena, Italy
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Lorena Gil-Flores, Instituto de Tecnología de Materiales (ITM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain. Tel.: +34963877007; Fax: +34963877629; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: Innovative non-conventional approaches, such as microwave sintering, are being developed as a method for sintering a variety of materials which shown advantages over conventional sintering procedures. This work involves an investigation of the microwave sintering of an ATZ composite with two different microwave applicators and frequency generators: 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz. Zirconia doped with ceria and toughened with alumina (10Ce-TZP/Al2O3) is the composite used in this study. The samples were sintered by microwave in air at 1200 and 1300 °C with 10 min of dwell time at 2.45 and 5.8 GHz in order to evaluate their effects on sintering, using an optimized experimental configuration. In addition, the mechanical properties of MW-sintered samples were compared with those obtained for the same composites sintered by the conventional method (1500 °C/120 min), such as relative density, hardness and fracture toughness.
