Preparation of La2Zr2O7 ceramic from Egyptian black sand

Lanthanum zirconates has been suggested as a thermal barrier coating for many high temperature applications. This work is focusing on the possibility of La2Zr2O7 from economic natural resources using Egyptian monazite and zircon. For this purpose, the prepared product of monazite REEs concentrate was subjected to Ce separation by its oxidation and precipitation as Ce (IV) at pH 3 with contact time 15 min and 30% excess amount of KMnO4. The REE-cake almost free from Ce (IV) was passing through Dowex50X8 cation exchange resin for the separation of pure product of La2O3. A homogeneous single phase compound of La2Zr2O7 has been formed at 3 h sintering time with sintering temperature 1100 °C and ZrO2/La2O3 ratio 50% this confirmed with XRD (X-ray diffraction), Raman and EDX analysis techniques.