Alumina Effect on the Phase Transformation of 3Y-TZP Ceramics

The isothermal tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transformation of 3 mol fraction Y2O3-ZrO2 ceramics contain-ing different amounts of Al2O3 during ageing in water at 130℃ for periods of time up to 40 h was investigated to explore the effect of Al2O3 addition on this transformation.The propagation of the transformation into the specimen interiors was suppressed by the addition of Al2O3.The transformation kinetics showed a nucle-ation and growth mechanism on the specimen surface to be dominant in the low temperature ageing in water environment.