title: Effect of sintering temperature on optical properties and microstructure of translucent zirconia prepared by high-pressure spark plasma sintering.
abstract: Aiming to characterize the effect of sintering temperature on transparency of zirconia, we have evaluated the optical properties and microstructure of translucent cubic zirconia prepared by high-pressure spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1000-1200○C. Color centers (oxygen vacancies with trapped electrons) and residual pores were primary defects in the samples. In SPS samples, the total forward transmittance and in-line transmittance are mainly affected by color centers with a limited contribution from residual pores; in contrast, the changes in reflectance are only related to the porosity. The amounts of color centers and residual pores increase with sintering temperature that reduces the total forward and in-line transmittance of the as-sintered zirconia. Annealing in oxidizing atmosphere improves the total forward and in-line transmittance. During the annealing, the concentration of color centers decreases but the porosity increases.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Processing Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Haibin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Processing Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Byung-Nam
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Processing Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Processing Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidehiro Yoshida
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Keijiro Hiraga
authors.affiliation: Advanced Materials Processing Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakka
keywords: optical materials; optical properties; spark plasma sintering; translucent zirconia