Electric and microstructural characteristics of bulk ZnO fabricated by underwater shock compaction

An underwater shock compaction of pure zinc oxide (ZnO) powder has been performed. This technique uses an underwater shock wave generated by detonation of an explosive. Shock pressure used in this work was about 10 GPa. The morphology and structure of shock-consolidated ZnO was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The density and impedance characteristics of shock-consolidated ZnO were measured by Archimedes method and Nyquist plot method, respectively. The shock-consolidated ZnO without visible cracks was successfully obtained. It was confirmed that the shock-consolidated ZnO had 99% of theoretical density without grain growth and high grain boundary resistivity in comparison with the commercial sintered ZnO.