There are many different kinds of sintering methods for ZTA ceramic tile, including atmospheric sintering, hot pressing sintering, hot isostatic pressing sintering, microwave sintering, plasma sintering, etc. In addition, the integration of various sintering methods will also give rise to more sintering methods, such as continuous sintering and two-step sintering.

Atmospheric sintering is the most common and original sintering method for ZTA ceramics. A series of physical and chemical changes in ZTA ceramics and the properties of the finished product during the atmospheric sintering process are the initial basis for studying its sintering characteristics. The ZTA ceramic paticle grow up at high temperatures which makes the porosity decreases. 

One of the advantages of hot press sintering is to break the critical rules of atmospheric sintering. On the other hand, high pressure can promote residual stress and affect the transformation from tetragonal to monoclinic. , It can also produce isotropic properties.

Hot isostatic pressing sintering makes ZTA ceramics more uniform microstructure, smaller particle size, increased bending strength, and more isotropic mechanical properties. However, hot isostatic pressing sintering makes the tetragonal phase Zirconia particles are not easy to cause stress-induced phase transformation, the fracture toughness is reduced, and the residual tensile stress will also appear on the surface to cause cracks. Plasma sintering uses bulk heating and surface activation to achieve ultra-fast densification of materials.

Microwave sintering uses microwaves to achieve high-temperature sintering of materials, which is different from conventional thermal radiation sintering. It is a volume heating effect with uniform sintering and low sintering temperature. , Short sintering time, reduced activation energy, grain refinement, reduced pollution and many other advantages.

The application of ZTA ceramic tile 

1.Structural ceramics

In the field of structural ceramics, ZTA ceramics have many excellent properties, such as good high temperature mechanical strength, high hardness, high elastic modulus, high bending strength, high fracture toughness, thermal shock resistance, wear resistance, oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance. These make ZTA ceramics widely used in structural engineering, such as high-efficiency gas turbines, aerospace automotive parts, corrosion-resistant coatings, ceramic sleeves, cutting blades, sealing valves, armors, molds, and metal connecting parts.

2.Functional ceramics

As a functional ceramic, ZTA also has many excellent properties, such as low thermal conductivity, high insulation, good thermal expansion coefficient matching, special optical properties, and good biocompatibility. These excellent properties make it applicable to electrical insulators, prostheses, piezoelectric ceramics, dental ceramics, ceramic membranes, and also include functional ceramics such as high efficiency filtration, reverse osmosis, gas separation, catalysis and photocatalysis.