The Doshisha

Daiichi Kigenso Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Xiaoteng Ge

Ken Hirota

Hideo Kimura

A ZrO&#x2014;AlO-based ceramic sintered compact containing tetragonal ZrOparticles having a crystallite size of from 5 to 20 nm as a main component and having an &#x3b1;-AlOcrystallite size of not greater than 75 nm and a relative density of not less than 99% can be produced by preparing a YOpartially stabilized ZrO&#x2014;AlO-based powder having a molar ratio (mol %) of zirconia (ZrO) and yttria (YO) of from 96.5:3.5 to 97.5:2.5 and a mass ratio (mass %) of ZrOcontaining YOand alumina (AlO) of from 85:15 to 75:25, molding this powder by cold isostatic pressing, and then performing sintering to a high density by microwave sintering for 45 to 90 min in an inert gas atmosphere at 1200 to 1400&#xb0; C. When performing microwave sintering, a heating rate is preferably from 5 to 20&#xb0; C./min up to 600&#xb0; C. and from 50 to 150&#xb0; C./min at 600&#xb0; C. or higher.

Growing community of inventors

Kyotanabe, Japan

Xiaoteng Ge