Synthesis of Zirconium Titanate‐Based Materials by Colloidal Filtration and Reaction Sintering

Zirconium titanate exhibits crystallographic anisotropy in thermal expansion, which makes it a suitable candidate for low thermal expansion materials. In this work, zirconium titanate has been synthesized by reaction sintering the green bodies, which have been obtained by colloidal filtration of concentrated suspensions of yttria-tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (Y-TZP) and titania. Powders were mixed in a 50/50 mol% ratio (ZT50) to obtain pure zirconium titanate. Rheological characterization of the suspensions has allowed the establishment of optimum green processing conditions. Sintering has been performed at 1400°C for 2h, and the obtained materials have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis. The ZT50 material has Zr 5 Ti 7 O 24 as the major phase, although Y 2 ((Zr 0.3 Ti 0.7 ) 2 O 7 ) and unreacted Y-TZP can still be detected.