High temperature creep behaviour of 4 mol% yttria tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (4-YTZP) with grain sizes between 0.38 and 1.15 μm

The high temperature mechanical behaviour of 4% mol yttria tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (4-YTZP) with different grain sizes (0.38 < d < 1.15 μm) has been analyzed by means of compression creep tests. The working temperature was 1350 °C and the strain rates ranged between 5 × 10−7 and 2 × 10−4 s−1. Experimental results have been fitted to the conventionally accepted creep law for superplastic ceramics. Thus, stress exponents and activation energies have been measured as a function of the grain size. The dependence of strain rate on grain size has also been determined. The experimental data are discussed with respect to the existing theoretical models for these materials.