It was recalled that 3mol%yttria-doped tetragonal zirconia exhibited ionic conductivity and superplasticity. The exploitation of superplasticity during manufacture was limited because the strain rate was low. Here, high strain-rate superplastic zirconias were fabricated by adding titania and magnesia. The effect upon diffusion-related phenomena such as sintering, grain growth and ionic conductivity was investigated. Dense and fine-grained zirconia polycrystals were obtained by colloidal processing. Grain growth was controlled by cation lattice diffusion, and the grain growth-rate was enhanced by adding titania and magnesia. A tensile ductility of about 216% was established for the titania and magnesia added material, at 1350C and a strain rate of 1.2 x 10−2/s. The ionic conductivity decreased with titania additions.

Effect of Titania and Magnesia Addition to 3mol% Yttria Doped Tetragonal Zirconia on Some Diffusion Related Phenomena. Y.Sakka, T.S.Suzuki, T.Matsumoto, K.Morita, K.Hiraga, Y.Moriyoshi: Solid State Ionics, 2004, 172[1-4], 499-503