Influence of rheological characteristics of YSZ suspension on the morphology of YSZ films deposited by electrostatic spray deposition

The effect of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) on the dispersion in nonaqueous yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) suspension and the influence of rheological property of the YSZ suspension on morphology of deposited films by electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) were investigated. The results showed that a gradual increase of PVB (5 wt.%, 10 wt.%, 15 wt.%) enabled the suspension to be more viscose. Also, adding PVB helped to better get dispersed and decrease the size of agglomerated particles (580 nm with 5 wt.% PVB, 830 nm with 10 wt.%, and 910 nm wt.% with 15 wt.%, respectively) compared to when YSZ suspension does not contain PVB. The dense 5 mu m thick YSZ film was obtained at 15 wt.% PVB suspension, and this optimal condition resulted from the optimized viscosity and the steric stabilization of suspension. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.