Zirconium dioxide of Mars to provide both fuel and oxidizer that could be used as a store of chemical energy for use with surface transportation on Mars. Carbon monoxide/oxygen engines have been suggested for early surface transportation use as both carbon monoxide and oxygen can be straightforwardly produced by zirconia electrolysis without requiring use of any of the Martian water resources to obtain hydrogen, which would be needed for the production of methane or any hydrogen-based fuels. Zirconia is also a potential high-k dielectric material with potential applications as an insulator in transistors. Zirconia is also employed in the deposition of optical
Zirconia Toughened Alumina offers several key properties. The mechanical robustness compared to alumina is attributed to the displacive phase transformation of the metastable tetragonal ziroconia grains when the material is stressed. The stress concentration at a crack tip can cause a transformation from a tetragonal crystal structure to a monoclinic one, which has an associated volume expansion of ziroconia. This volume expansion effectively pushes back the propagation of the crack and results in higher toughness and strength. A common specimen of Zirconia Toughened Alumina will have 10-20% zirconium oxides. The 20-30% increase in strength often meets the design criteria needed at a much