Preparation and Characterization of Black Zirconia Ceramics by Black Color Spinel Pigment

The zirconia ceramics are widely used because of their excellent mechanical properties. Recently, many researches to make a colored zirconia was achieved to satisfy the individual aesthetic requirements. In this study, the synthesis of black-color spinel-based inorganic pigments which are stable above $1400^{\circ}C$ and the fabrication of black-colored zirconia using the synthesized pigments are investigated. Inorganic pigments which have spinel structure and near black color were synthesized by a solid state reaction method using a $Fe_2O_3,\;Cr_2O_3$, CoO and NiO powder as a starting materials at $1600^{\circ}C$. Most of synthesized pigments were black colored spinel phases and single spinel phase was successfully synthesized at the composition range of $Cr_2O_3:25{\sim}35%,\;Fe_2O_3:45{\sim}55%$, CoO:20% and NiO:$6{\sim}10%$. The black-colored zirconia was fabricated at $1410^{\circ}C$ with the 5 wt% synthesized pigments and their properties were evaluated. The results showed that the strength value was more than 848 MPa, absorption rate was 0.1%, the brightness of color was $L^*:40{\sim}42$, the tone of color is $a^*:0.2{\sim}0.8$ and $b^*:-1.1{\sim}2.4$. As a result, the black-colored zirconia was suitable for a artificial jewelry or decoration zirconia goods.

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