Materials and Energy Research Center (MERC) Iranian Ceramic Society (ICERS) Advanced Ceramics Progress 2423-7477 5 Issue 2 2019 06 01 The Effect of Sm2O3 on the Sintering and Grain Growth Behaviors of SnO2-Based Ceramics 26 31 95730 10.30501/acp.2019.95730 EN Hajieh Bastami Technical and Vocational University of Tehran, Faculty of Material Science and Engineering, Shariaty College, 18918-16851, Tehran, Iran 0000-0002-6090-9190 Ehsan Taheri Nasaj Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Philippe F. Smet 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 0000-0003-4789-5799 Dirk Poelman 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 0000-0002-3930-172X Journal Article 2019 06 30 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. https://www.acerp.ir/article_95730_861ce2f9781993865b4a01a202fdf452.pdf