The effect of Fe doping on the sintering behavior of commercial CeO2 powder

Mixtures of CeO2 and Fe2O3 with Fe/Ce atomic ratios ranging from 0 to 1 were prepared by the conventional ceramic technique. XRD analysis indicates that no binary compound between CeO2 and Fe2O3 is formed under the present experimental conditions; the solubility of Fe3+ into CeO2 is very small (<1%), even though the sintering temperature is higher than 1500°C. The sintering temperature of CeO2 powder can be reduced dramatically by adding a small amount of Fe2O3. At 1300°C almost full densification (>99.0% relative density) for 0.5% Fe-doped CeO2 ceramics is reached after less than 1 h, compared with ∼96% relative density for pure CeO2 sintered at 1525°C for 2 h.