Toughness enhancement of Ce-TZP by annealing in argon

Annealing of air-sintered fully dense Ce-TZP ceramics in argon resulted in the formation of a toughness gradient in the component, ranging from 6 MPa m(1/2) in the core up to 16 MPa m(1/2) at the edge. The increased toughness is explained in terms of the reduction and grain boundary segregation of cerium and the change in grain morphology. (C) 2003 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe