Yttria concentration dependence of tensile strength in yttria-stabilized zirconia

Tensile and bending tests were performed for ZrO2 polycrystals stabilized with 2.6-10 mol % Y2O3. There is no significant difference in the isothermal Young's modulus of all the compositions. Both the tensile and bending strengths of PSZ are markedly higher than those of 14 FSZ. This is mainly due to the fact that both strengths of PSZ reflect the increase in the resistance to crack propagation due to a stress-induced phase transformation. For both 3YSZ and 8YSZ, the tensile strengths are lower than the bending strength. The difference in the effective volume is responsible for those differences. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.