Formation and HIP Sintering of ZrO₂ Solid Solution in the System ZrO₂-Al₂O₃

Abstract

Metastable ZrO₂ solid solution powders containing 25 mol% Al₂O₃ have been prepared by calcining the hydrolysis co-precipitates of zirconium and aluminium alkoxides and have been sintered by the hot isostatic pressing technique. The sintered specimen consists of mixture of tetragonal zirconia solid solution and monoclinic zirconia solid solution. The solid solution ceramics with about 55% of tetragonal phase which have homogeneous microstructure with the range of grain size from 10 to 50 nm give very high fracture toughness of 23 MPa⋅m^1/2.