Solid-state synthesis and spark plasma sintering of SrZrO3 ceramics

SrZrO3 powders are obtained by solid state reaction from SrCO3 and ZrO2 precursors, without involving intermediate calcination and grinding steps. The resulted powders are essentially within a single phase, with sub-micron average crystallite size. Pellets of these powders show a relatively poor sintering behavior, when fired up to 1600 °C. Alternatively, spark plasma sintering technique is used in order to obtain nearly 100% dense samples at the expense of excessive grain coarsening (i.e., up to 5 μm in diameter). Crystalline structure, composition and morphology of the specimens obtained in this work are investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy together with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.

► Synthesis time of SrZrO3 powders by solid state reaction reduced to 8 h from 48 h. ► Sub-micron SrZrO3 grains with a wide distribution in size. ► Nearly 100% dense specimens obtained by spark plasma sintering technique.