Zirconia composition, pre-sintered body and sintered body, and method of producing the same

#The present disclosure is based upon and claims the benefit of the priority of the Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-183129 (filed on Sep. 20, 2016), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

#The present disclosure relates to a composition predominantly containing zirconia (zirconium oxide (IV); ZrO2). The present disclosure also relates to a zirconia pre-sintered body and sintered body. Furthermore, the present disclosure relates to a method of producing a zirconia composition, pre-sintered body, and sintered body.

#Zirconia is a compound in which phase transition occurs among a plurality of crystal systems. Therefore, partially-stabilized zirconia (PSZ) and fully-stabilized zirconia, in which a stabilizer such as yttria (yttrium oxide; Y2O3) forms a solid solution with zirconia to suppress phase transition, are utilized in a variety of fields. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a sintered body of partially-stabilized zirconia for use as a dental material.

#FIG. 1 shows an X-ray diffraction pattern of a pre-sintered body produced in Example 5-2.

#FIG. 2 shows an X-ray diffraction pattern of a pre-sintered body produced in Example 6-2.

#FIG. 3 shows an X-ray diffraction pattern of a pre-sintered body produced in Comparative Example 4-2.

#In the following, preferred modes from each of the above aspects will be described.

#According a preferred mode of the above first aspect, a BET specific surface area is 7.5 m2/g to 25 m2/g.

#According a preferred mode of the above first aspect, 80% or more of zirconia is monoclinic.