Mechanism of lower activation energy for tetragonal ZrO2 crystallite growth in the 3Â mol% yttria partially stabilized zirconia (3Y-PSZ) precursor powders

► Activation energy and kinetics equation of t-ZrO2 crystallite growth were obtained. ► Lower-activation-energy nanocrystallite growth was attributed to LPRICG mechanism. ► The convincing evidences of LPRICG observed by HR-TEM.