Effect of Additives on Formation of Self-Supported Zircon Film by Sol-Gel Method

Self-supported zircon films were successfully formed by heat-treating a gel prepared from the precursor solution of Zr(OC 4 H 9 ) 4 and Si(OC 2 H 5 ) 4 by the sol-gel method. The effect of additives, such as Ni(NO 3 ) 2 , Cu(NO 3 ) 2 and CuCl 2 , on the formation of zircon film was examined. It was found that the addition of Cu(NO 3 ) 2 in precursor solution was effective for obtaining a single-phase zircon at low heat-treatment temperature. From thermal analyses and X-ray diffractometry, the crystallization temperature of zircon was found to be about 950°C. A zircon film with the size of 8 mm x 8 mm × 6 μm was obtained which did not contain any crack.