Special attention has been given to partially stabilized ZrO
2 (PSZ), tetragonal ZrO
2 polycrystal (TZP), and ZrO
2-toughened Al
2O
3 (ZTA) to improve the fracture toughness (K
IC) and bending strength (σ
b) of ceramics. In a recent study, it was shown that in the system ZrO
2-Al
2O
3, ZrO
2 solid solutions (ss) are formed metastably up to ≈40 mol% Al
2O
3 from amorphous materials prepared by the alkoxy-method. Isostatically hot-pressed ZrO
2(ss) ceramics exhibit very high K
IC (23 MPa⋅m
1/2) and plastic deformation at room temperature, although their σ
b is weak (≤700 MPa). The texture consists of a homogeneous microstructure with a grain size of ≈50nm. To improve ab, two kinds of ceramics have been fabricated by the addition of a small amount of Y
2O
3: (1) perfect ZrO
2(ss) ceramics and (2) composite ceramics of ZrO
2(ss) and a-Al
2O
3. Composites with a homogeneous dispersed cc-Al
2O
3 result in a remarkable increase of σ
b (1445 MPa). The ratio of ZrO
2(ss) and α-Al
2O
3 can be controlled by the amount of Y
2O
3 addition and sintering temperature. A new method for preparing solid solutions from chlorides using hydrazine monohydrate has been developed in some systems. This paper describes the mechanical properties of PSZ, TZP and ZTA ceramics fabricated using ZrO
2(ss) powders prepared by some sol-gel techniques.
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