Rapid and low-temperature preparation of zircon ceramic by hydrothermal-assisted sol-gel process and microwave sintering

During the traditional preparation of zircon, higher sintering temperatures and longer holding times are inevitable. A novel hydrothermal-assisted sol-gel process and microwave sintering (HM, microwave sintering precursors derived from hydrothermal-assisted sol-gel process) were provided to prepare zircon ceramics hereof. The influences of sintering temperature and holding time on the phase composition, microstructure, and compactness of ceramics were investigated. Data display that the properties of the obtained ceramics were highly dependent on the temperature and time, and the ZrSiO4 formation efficiency can be improved by increasing these two factors. The sample prepared by the HM process has the formation efficiency of ZrSiO4 up to 91.74 wt% (HM-1350-300), which far exceeds that of conventional microwave sintering (M-1350-300, 45.02 wt%). The results demonstrate that the HM process can be employed to obtain ZrSiO4 ceramics rapidly at low temperatures.