Investigation of Sintering Technology for Composite of Stainless Steel and Partially Stabilized Zirconia

The sintering technology for mixed powdered extrusion rods of different proportions of stainless steel to magnesia partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) was investigated. The effects of some sintering parameters including holding time, atmosphere and protective gas pressure on shrinkage, relative density, microstructure, micro-Vickers hardness and compression strength of sintered samples were mainly researched. The experimental results are as follows: (1) The shrinkage and the relative density of the sintered samples decrease as increasing stainless steel content in the composite, except for the case containing 90 percent of stainless steel; (2) The porosity in PSZ matrix rises as increasing the stainless steel content in the composite; (3) Longer sintering holding time, higher sintering vacuum and gas-pressure sintering process not only enhance the relative density, but also improve microstructure of composite; (4) Micro-Vickers hardness of PSZ matrix decreases as increasing stainless steel content, while that of stainless steel particles in sintered samples varies unnoticeably.