Development of Y2O3 nanopowders for PTC Applications as laser host material

Transparent ceramics are that category of ceramic materials that has attracted the interest from both the scientific community and industry, due to its excellent combination of unique optical, mechanical, physical and chemical... [ view full abstract ]

Transparent ceramics are that category of ceramic materials that has attracted the interest from both the scientific community and industry, due to its excellent combination of unique optical, mechanical, physical and chemical properties. This makes them suitable for several demanding applications. More recently, interest has focused on the development of transparent armor ceramic materials for both military and civil applications. From application perspective, properties such as superior strength, refractory character, possibility of near- net shape and scalable fabrication, are critical. Hence powder synthesis technology has attained prominence in recent past. Due to the development of powder production methods transparent ceramics allow wide range of rare-earth-ion-doping concentrations have led to the production of different morphologies for the powder. Recently, many studies have focused on controlling the size and morphology of Y₂O₃ by mechanical routes in order to obtain better material performance. The present work deals with the controlling size and morphology through wet chemical route. The work develops a precipitation process for synthesizing nanocrystalline yttria (Y₂O₃) powder. Yttria powder dissolved in a high-purity nitric acid, then diluted with deionized water to the concentration of 0.1 M to prepare mother salt solution. Ammonium hydrogen carbonate (AHC, reagent grade) used as the precipitant. Nanocrystalline yttria powder has been obtained by drying at 80^°C for 24 h and calcining the precursor at 1100 ^°C for 4 hr. To obtain nanocrystalline yttria powder, condition parameters including the pH, stirring speed, drying temperature and solvent ratio are controlled to obtain the standardization for chemical route.

Keywords: Y₂O₃; Morphology; Co-precipitation; Nano powders.