LAUSR

Abstract The effect of temperature and heating rate on the densification of ytterbia (Yb2O3), with and without titania (TiO2) doping was investigated. It is shown that up to a certain doping level, titania doping enhances the densification behaviour of ytterbia. The effect of titania doping on crystal structure confirms that titania is substitutionally incorporated in ytterbia up to the solubility limit, which corresponds well with the densification results. The increased densification rate of titania-doped ytterbia is attributed to the formation of cation vacancy and lattice distortion. Using constant heating rate experiments, the activation energy for densification has been calculated and it is shown that in the intermediate density range (60 % to 85 %), the activation energy is independent of the density. Titania doping increases the activation energy for densification.