Influence of the yttria powder morphology on its densification ability

The present paper shows that we can predict the densification capacity of an yttria powder in relation with its grain shape by using a simple thermodynamic model. All other parameters, such as temperature, time, sintering atmosphere and nature of the powder are fixed. The values of the relative density and grain size of the final ceramic strongly depend on the shape of the grain of the initial powder. A simple model is proposed to understand these differences and to give tools to predict, step by step the densification capacity of a powder. This study could be extended to powders of different nature.