Influence of Cold Isostatic Pressure on Formation of Secondary Nanoscale Zirconia Inclusions in Alumina Grains in Ceramic Composites 3Y-TZP with Small Amount of Al2O3

It was shown that the increasing cold isostatic pressure value during ball-milled 3Y- TZP-2wt%Al
₂
O
₃
powder compaction up to 500 MPa lead to formation the secondary nanoscale zirconia inclusions in alumina grains. The mean size of such inclusions was 60 nm. Increasing pressure value up to 1000 MPa lead to increasing amount of zirconia nanoscale inclusions. The reason of such structure transformation clearly does not define. It was discussed two possible mechanisms of their formation: uphill diffusion in deformed alumina crystals or irregular coagulation of deformed alumina grains during sintering.