As a first step, the specimens were

As a first step, the specimens were fabricated using CSP. Each solution was added to 20 wt% Y2O3 powder and mixed in a mortar. The mixture was placed in a cylindrical mould surrounded by a heating jacket and pressed to 430 MPa. While maintaining the pressure, the temperature of the heating jacket was raised to 200℃ and maintained for 2 h. In the second step, the CSP specimens were maintained at 600℃ for 2 h to remove any residual organics and then conventionally sintered at 1400℃ for either 2 h or 48 h in the furnace. Thus, the overall CSP-CS process consisted of cold sintering followed by conventional sintering [36].For comparative analysis, Y2O3 was treated by conventional sintering (CS) only. The powder was first placed in a mould and pressed for 5 mins at 100 MPa via cold isostatic pressing (CIP), then sintered at 1400 °C for either 2 h or 48 h.