ZrO
2 composite ceramics containing 25mol%Al
2O
3 and a small amount of Y
2O
3,
i.e., 75mol%ZrO
2 (0.5~2.0mol%Y
2O
3: 0.5~2.0Y)–25mol%Al
2O
3 ceramics, have been fabricated by sintering cubic ZrO
2 solid solution (
ss) nano-powder prepared via the neutralization coprecipitation method. Their sintering was performed using a pulsed electric-current pressure sintering (PECPS) at 1300~1350˚C for 10 min under 60 MPa in Ar. Dense tetragonal-ZrO
2 (
ss) ceramics containing
α–Al
2O
3 were composed of 135 − 150 nm grains with a high relative density ≥99.9%. They showed extreme high bending strength (
σb≥1 GPa) and high fracture toughness (
KIC≥15 MPa • m
1/2) simultaneously. FE-SEM observation revealed that these mechanical properties were originated from homogeneous distribution of
α–Al
2O
3 particles around the
t–ZrO
2 matrix; the precipitation of
α–Al
2O
3 could be achieved by adopting both the (
ss) powders containing
α–Al
2O
3 and PECPS.
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