3D microstructure construction and quantitative evaluation of sintered ZrO2 under different sintering conditions

In this study, the microstructural evolution of yttria-stabilized ZrO2 after different sintering conditions is quantitatively presented. Focused ion beam (FIB) is used as a critical tool for sintering microstructural evolution understanding. 3D images are constructed with Amira software based on a series of 2D images obtained from FIB cutting of samples with an interval of 10 nm. Pore connectivity, pore numbers, grain-pore interfacial areas, and pore tortuosity of the sintered samples are calculated by IDL software using the 3D images. Our new tortuosity definition describes the actual sample microstructural changes while the other two in the literature fail to do so. FIB cutting and 3D microstructure reconstruction offer many new aspects of sintering microstructure that have not been available before.