The effect of Sm2O3 on the sintering and grain growth behaviors of SnO2-based ceramics

The effect of samarium oxide was examined on the sintering, microstructure, and grain growth behaviors of (Co, Nb)-doped SnO2-based ceramics prepared by co-precipitation method. The sintered samples were studied through x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analyses. The microstructure observations revealed that the samples were near fully dense at a sintering temperature of 1200°C for 1h. The samarium doping prevented accelerated grain growth of the SnO2-based ceramic in the final stage of the sintering. The mean grain size of the SnO2-based ceramic without Sm2O3 doping was 2.70μm, which was reduced to 0.887μm for the sample doped with 0.05mol% Sm2O3. The grain size reduction of samples doped with Sm2O3 could be attributed to the segregation of Sm2O3 at the grain boundaries