Microstructure and Phase Composition of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Nanofibers Prepared by High-Temperature Calcination of Electrospun Zirconium Acetylacetonate/Yttrium Nitrate/Polyacrylonitrile Fibers

Abstract

For the first time, dense nanofibers of yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia with diameter of ca. 140 nm were prepared by calcination of electrospun zirconium acetylacetonate/yttrium nitrate/polyacrylonitrile fibers at 1100–1300 °C. Ceramic filaments were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and nitrogen adsorption. With a rise in the calcination temperature from 1100 to 1300 °C, the fine-grain structure of the nanofibers transformed to coarse-grain ones with the grain size equal to the fiber diameter. It was revealed that fully tetragonal nanofibrous zirconia may be obtained at Y2O3 concentrations in the range of 2–3 mol% at all used calcination temperatures. The addition of 2–3 mol% yttria to zirconia inhibited ZrO2 grain growth, preventing nanofibers’ destruction at high calcination temperatures. Synthesized well-sintered, non-porous, yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia nanofibers can be considered as a promising material for composites’ reinforcement, including composites with ceramic matrix.

Chemical and microstructural characterisation of HfO2-Y2O3 ceramics with high amount of Y2O3 (33, 40 and 50 mol. %) manufactured using spark plasma sintering

“…The stabilisation of these ceramics with rare earth oxides (RE2O3) induces the substitution of a cation Hf 4+ by a cation RE 3+ . The stabilisation of zirconia with low content yttria has been widely studied in the literature [6,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], but only few studies deal with HfO2-based materials and their stabilisation with rare earth oxides (at low content). i.e.…”

Phase stabilisation, thermal expansion and ionic conductivity of high content rare earth oxide (Lu2O3, Y2O3 and Gd2O3) stabilised cubic hafnia

“…Regarding the amount of stabilisers, the stabilisation of zirconia with low content yttria has been widely studied in the literature [ 11,[45][46][47][48][49][50] ], but only few studies deal with HfO2-based materials [ [51][52][53]. Moreover, the use of high content of rare earth oxide for the stabilisation of hafnia is really not common in the literature and most of the papers deal with the stabilisation of hafnia with low yttria content (often around 8 mol.…”

Effect of Zirconia Nanofibers Structure Evolution on the Hardness and Young’s Modulus of Their Mats

“…However, the functional properties of mats depend on the diameter, grain structure, phase composition and porosity of the nanofiber components. There are several ways to control the microstructure and phase composition of zirconia nanofibers via varying the calcination temperature [21], dopant concentration [22] and zirconia precursor content in the composite intermediate filaments [23].…”