The Effect of Sm2O3 on the Sintering and Grain Growth Behaviors of SnO2-Based Ceramics

Authors

1 Technical and Vocational University of Tehran, Faculty of Material Science and Engineering, Shariaty College, 18918-16851, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

3 LumiLab, Department of Solid State Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281/S1, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium & Center for Nano and Biophotonics (NB Photonics), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Abstract

The effect of samarium oxide was examined on the sintering, microstructure, and grain growth behaviors of (Co, Nb)-doped SnO2-based ceramics prepared by co-precipitation method. The sintered samples were studied through x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analyses. The microstructure observations revealed that the samples were near fully dense at a sintering temperature of 1200°C for 1h. The samarium doping prevented accelerated grain growth of the SnO2-based ceramic in the final stage of the sintering. The mean grain size of the SnO2-based ceramic without Sm2O3 doping was 2.70µm, which was reduced to 0.887µm for the sample doped with 0.05mol% Sm2O3. The grain size reduction of samples doped with Sm2O3 could be attributed to the segregation of Sm2O3 at the grain boundaries.

Keywords

Main Subjects


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