Publication Date:
2015-07-18
Description:
ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to characterize the three-dimensional (3D) surface micromorphology of the ceramics produced from nanoparticles of alumina and tetragonal zirconia (t-ZrO 2 ) with addition of Ca +2 for sintering improvement. The 3D surface roughness of samples was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM), fractal analysis of the 3D AFM-images, and statistical analysis of surface roughness parameters. Cube counting method, based on the linear interpolation type, applied for AFM data was used for fractal analysis. The morphology of non-modified ceramic sample was characterized by the rather big (1–2 μm) grains of α-Al 2 O 3 phase with a habit close to hexagonal drowned in solid solution of t-ZrO 2 with smooth surface. The pattern surfaces of modified composite content a little amount of elongated prismatic grains with composition close to the phase of СаСеAl 3 О 7 as well as hexahedral α-Al 2 O 3 -grains. Fractal dimension, D , as well as height values distribution have been determined for the surfaces of the samples with and without modifying. It can be concluded that the smoothest surface is of the modified samples with Ca +2 modifier but the most regular one is of the non-modified samples. A connection was observed between the surface morphology and the physical properties as assessed in previous works. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2015 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Print ISSN:
1059-910X
Electronic ISSN:
1097-0029
Topics:
Natural Sciences in General
