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Surface and grain boundary energies of tin dioxide at low and high temperatures and effects on densification behavior

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Abstract

This work presents experimental data on the surface and grain boundary energies of tin dioxide nanoparticles at room temperature and high temperature conditions (quenched from 1300 °C), and a discussion of impacts on the fundamental understanding of the nondensification mechanism of SnO2 during sintering. The results were obtained using a combination of water adsorption microcalorimetry, high-temperature oxide melt drop solution calorimetry, and scanning electron transmission microscopy. At room temperature, the average surface and grain boundary energies of anhydrous SnO2 were 1.20 ± 0.02 and 0.71 ± 0.08 J m−2, respectively. At high temperature, SnO2 showed a surface energy of 0.94 ± 0.03 J m−2. This remarkable decrease was attributed to the lower oxygen pressure and was associated with a decrease in contact angle during sintering. This observation indicates a moderate but significant thermodynamic reason behind nondensification behavior of SnO2 in addition to common kinetic descriptions: high sintering temperatures and atmospheres cause smaller dihedral angles that decrease sintering stresses.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by the NSF grant DMR Ceramics 1055504. We also acknowledge Jorgen Rufner and Sanchita Dey for the support with TEM/STEM analysis.

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  1. Peter A. Rock Thermochemistry Laboratory at NEAT ORU, University of California, Davis, California, USA

    Chi-Hsiu Chang & Ricardo H. R. Castro

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, California, 95616, USA

    Chi-Hsiu Chang & Ricardo H. R. Castro

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  1. Chi-Hsiu Chang
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  2. Ricardo H. R. Castro
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Correspondence to Ricardo H. R. Castro.

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Chang, CH., Castro, R.H.R. Surface and grain boundary energies of tin dioxide at low and high temperatures and effects on densification behavior. Journal of Materials Research 29, 1034–1046 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.88

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