Crystallite size-dependent phases in nanocrystalline ZrO2–Sc2O3

Abstract

ZrO2-10, 12 and 14 mol% Sc2O3 nanopowders were prepared by using a nitrate-lysine gel-combustion synthesis. These materials were studied by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (SXPD) and Raman spectroscopy after calcination at different temperatures from 650 to 1200 1C, which led to samples with different average crystallite sizes, up to about 100 nm. The results from SXPD and Raman analyses indicate that, depending on Sc2O3 content, the metastable t0 0-form of the tetragonal phase or the cubic phase are fully retained at room temperature in nanocrystalline powders, provided an average crystallite sizes lower than B30 nm. By contrast, powders with larger average crystallite sizes exhibit the stable rhombohedral, b and g, phases and do not retain or very partially retain the metastable t0 0 and cubic ones.