Fabrication Of Zirconia Fibers By Sol-gel Combined Spinning Technique

Zirconia fiber is one of the high performance ceramic fibers, which has wide application.It can be used as high temperature resistant material, structure reinforced material andchemical corrosion resistant material. In this article, the extrafine zirconia fiber was fabricatedby using poly zirconium acetate system and poly acetyl acetone zirconium system combinedwith electrospinning technology.In order to prepare the poly zirconium acetate sol, zirconium carbonate was used as rawmaterial, and acetic acid was complexing agent. The yttrium nitrate was added as stabilizingagent, and water was solvent. The raw material prices, which are used to prepare the polyzirconium acetate system, are relatively cheap，non-toxic and more environmental protection.And the operation process is relatively simple. The spinnability of zirconium acetate is good,but its spinnability can’t meet the requirements of electrospinning. In order to solve thisproblem, the right amount of PVP was added in the sol as spinning additives. The smoothzirconia fibers were fabricated by electrospinning. Through the analysis of SEM, the systemparameters of electrospinning, process parameters and environmental parameters weredetermined. The viscosity of sol is2.0-3.0Pa·s. The voltage of spinning is24-26KV. Thecuring distance is10to12cm. The advancing speed is0.7to1.2mL/h, and the spinningtemperature is30to40℃. By the analysis of DTA-TG, FT-IR, XRD and the experiment, wedetermined the reasonable heat treatment process. The improvement to the performance of thefiber by preprocessing in nitrogen atmosphere was also proved. In addition, the Y2O3effecton zirconia crystal shape was also studied by adding different amount of Y2O3into it. Thecomposition of zirconia fiber was analyzed. The percentage of various impurity elements (wt%) is less than2%. In the end, the possible structure of poly zirconium acetate (PZA) and theidealized formation process of PZA were described in the article. And the interactionmechanism between the ZrO2sol particles and PVP macromolecular was also derived.In order to prepare the poly acetyl acetone zirconium sol, aqueous zirconyl chloride wasused as raw material, and acetyl acetone was complexing agent. The ethylenediamine wasused as precipitant. The yttrium nitrate was added as stabilizing agent, and ethanol wassolvent. And suitable amount of PVA was added as spinning additives. The raw material prices that are used to prepare poly acetyl acetone zirconium system are more expensive, andit has certain toxicity. But the stability and spinnability of poly acetyl acetone zirconium solare relatively well, and it is more suitable to fabricate continuous fibers. In the article, the heattreatment system of fiber was also determined. The improvement to the performance of thefiber by preprocessing in water vapor atmosphere was also proved. And the interactionmechanism between ZrO2sol particles and PVA macromolecule was deduced.Through the analysis of SEM, we can find that the surface of zirconia fiber is smooth,with little defects and small grains, and the diameter of the fiber distribution is homogeneous.