Effect of Starting Material on the Sintering Characteristics of Ni/YSZ Cermets

Abstract

The sintering characteristics and physical properties were investigated for several Ni/YSZ powders, prepared using NiO powder and commercial YSZ or calcined YSZ powder. The sintering shrinkage of Ni/YSZ powder was affected by the kind of YSZ powder used; larger shrinkage was observed for cermets made from commercial YSZ. The shrinkage was also considerably affected by the amount of NiO used. The sintering-starting temperature was also affected by the YSZ powder used; it was higher for Ni/calcined YSZ cermets. The shrinkage characteristics in the sintering-temperature region were predominantly affected by the amount of NiO used. The amount of NiO strongly affected the isothermal shrinkage characteristics, based on the observation that all of the cermets investigated showed a shrinkage profile similar to that of NIO.
The porosity and conductivity were increased on the Ni/calcined YSZ because of the localized NiO distribution in the sintered body.