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-δ. 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-δ were possible pigments with environmental friendly properties toward future ceramic application. Key Words:Ceria, Zirconia, Terbia, Pigment, Colour property, UV-Vis