Temperature dependence of the yttria-stabilized zirconia Raman spectrum

The Raman spectrum of 5 wt % yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia from 25 to 1250 degrees C is reported. All six Raman bands broaden and shift toward lower energy with increasing temperature. The shift associated with thermally induced volume changes is shown to be the main contribution for all bands, but does not explain the unexpected negative value of the thermospectroscopic coefficient found for the mode at 260 cm(-1) (at room temperature). For all bands, the shift is found to be quasilinear in the range of temperatures considered. As the thermospectroscopic coefficients are large, Raman spectroscopy is well suited as a noncontact, in situ method for monitoring temperature in applications of yttria-stabilized zirconia such as thermal barrier coatings and fuel cells. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.