Sintering behaviour of olivine–ceria blends

The sintering performance of a series of samples containing olivine and 3–40 wt% of a high grade ceria powder is described in the present investigation. After milling, the mixtures were dried, sieved, uniaxially pressed and air sintered for 1 h at temperatures ranging from 1000 to 1300 °C. The resulting materials were characterized by water absorption, shrinkage, density, phase composition and microstructure in order to study their sintering behaviour. It was observed that all compositions displayed similar sintering behaviour reaching low water absorption and high shrinkage in the thermal range examined. In more detail, samples containing 40 wt% of ceria shrink at lower temperature with respect to the others. Fired samples display same phases independently of sintering cycle and chemical composition. Conversely the quantity of ceria affects the final microstructure limiting grains growth.