Synthesis, Colour and Optical Evaluation of Ceramic Powders in the System of Ceria-Zirconia-Terbia
Masaya AMIMOTO, Masaaki HANEDA and Masakuni OZAWA
Abstract:Ceria-zirconia-terbia solid solutions were synthesized by co-precipitation method. The powders were characterized by XRD, colorimetric assessment and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance. A solid solution phase structure was obtained for all of the samples heated at 900 and belongs to cubic fluorite structure or distorted fluorite structure. It was found that the lattice size decreased with increasing Zr content in the range x=0 to 0.8 in ZrxCe1-xO2 and ZrxCe0.99-xTb0.01O2-. Diffuse reflectance spectra of the ZrxCe1-xO2 solid solutions in the UV region showed the broad shoulder-type band at 320-350 nm, which was assigned to interband transitions in CeO2 and additionally broader band in higher wave length region in solid solution. It was observed that ZrxCe1-xO2 powder became deeper yellow depending on Zr content, and that the doping of Tb resulted in warm colour in CeO2-ZrO2 based solid solution. The powders in the system of ZrxCe1-xO2 and ZrxCe0.99-xTb0.01O2- were possible pigments with environmental friendly properties toward future ceramic application. Key Words:Ceria, Zirconia, Terbia, Pigment, Colour property, UV-Vis