The effect of YSZ microstructure on Young's modulus

The mechanical behavior of nanostructured yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thermal spray deposits was examined and compared to conventional zirconia coatings. Young's modulus was measured using indentation techniques. The anisotropy of the deposits was estimated by indenting the deposits in the perpendicular and parallel directions to the substrate. Statistical distribution of the mechanical properties was correlated with the microstructure. The effective Young's moduli of nanostructured and standard YSZ were also modeled by means of 2D extended FEM; whereby actual microstructures were assessed. The simulation was based on micrographs by employing a standard meshing program combined with an in-house developed XFEM package, which incorporates the crack structure into the model. The effect of nano-scale features on the effective Young's modulus were predicted and compared to experimental observations