Synthesis and characterization of alumina- and zirconia-based powders obtained by the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Abstract

The ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) technique was used for synthesis of alumina- and zirconia-based powders. The starting agents were aqueous solutions, atomized by the ultrasonic spray generator and pyrolized in the furnace under the open-air conditions. The powders prepared by USP were in the form of solid and hollow aggregates (spheres) consisted of nanosize amorphous grains as determined by the microscopy and the X-ray diffraction techniques. The alumina-based powders were consolidated by the pulse plasma sintering resulting in single-phase materials. Different behavior of solid and hollow particles during the isostatic sintering is found; a higher degree of deformation of spheres is observed in the second case.