It was shown by analysis, including through the incorporation of dislocation pile-ups, that the intragranular movement of dislocations played little or no significant role in the deformation of high purity yttria-stabilized zirconia when testing at 1673K at stresses below about 100MPa. It was proposed instead that deformation occurred through interface-controlled Coble diffusion creep.

Comment on the Role of Intragranular Dislocations in Superplastic Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia. N.Balasubramanian, T.G.Langdon: Scripta Materialia, 2003, 48[5], 599-604