ZTA ceramics (zirconia toughened alumina) are ceramic materials with excellent comprehensive mechanical properties. Compared with ordinary alumina ceramics, ZTA has better toughness and is not easy to break. Therefore, it plays an important role in many key fields. In medical implant applications, we need ceramic materials to have better friction and wear properties. Therefore, doping and modification of ZTA ceramics have become an important topic.
Recently, the team of Professor Leng Yongxiang of Southwest Jiaotong University studied the improvement behavior of copper doping on the friction and wear properties of ZTA ceramics. The relevant results were published in “Ceramics International”.
Field-assisted sintering technology furnace preparation ZTA ceramics
The experiment used nano-scale high-purity alumina, zirconium oxide, and yttrium oxide as raw materials. And hydrated copper nitrate as a copper dopant. Configure respectively the raw material powders with doping amounts of 0, 1.5, 3, and 5%, and ball milled for 10 hours to make them evenly distributed. Then heat at 300°C for 3 hours to decompose copper nitrate into copper oxide. Load the powder into a graphite mold and sinter and densify in our CNE-FHP-828 field-assisted sintering technology furnace. The sintering temperature was 1400℃, the holding time was 10 minutes, then cooled to room temperature. Demould the samples and analyze the microstructure, friction, and wear properties.
X-ray diffraction results showed that with the increase of copper doping, the diffraction peak of copper oxide appeared in the sample.
Elemental analysis of scanning electron microscopy showed that copper oxide independently deposits in the ZTA matrix to form copper-rich particles. This has an important impact on the friction and wear behavior of the material.
Friction test results show that 5% copper-doped ZTA ceramics have a lower friction coefficient, which is attributed to the lubrication of copper-rich particles. At the same time, the material has a lower wear rate. The comprehensive results show that it has good application prospects in the field of bioimplants.
