Yttria-stabilized zirconia is known to not be completely stabilized in the pure cubic YSZ phase up to temperatures above 1000 °C (Ref. and publications therein), commonly used abbreviations in conjunction with yttria-stabilized zirconia are: The thermal expansion coefficients depends on the modification of zirconia as follows: By the addition of yttria to pure zirconia (e.g., fully stabilized YSZ) Y ions replace Zr on the cationic sublattice. Thereby, oxygen vacancies are generated due to charge neutrality: formula_4 with formula_5, meaning two Y ions generate one vacancy on the anionic sublattice. This facilitates moderate conductivity of yttrium stabilized zirconia for O ions (and thus
Zirconia Toughened Alumina lower cost. Depending on the percentage that is Zirconium, the properties of this ceramic can be manipulated for the applications required. Zirconia Toughened Alumina is generally referred as the intermediary between Alumina and Zirconium and as priced as such. This gives the ZTA a much lower price range than other similar materials. The increase in composite strength is done by a process called Stress Induced Transformation Toughening. This process causes internal strains, which causes crack in the structure of the Zirconium. Because of the crack, the Zirconium particles allowed to switch phases and move more freely amongst the Alumina particles.