Zirconia Ceramics « Advanced Ceramics

Zirconia materials are used in very high wear applications under very high pressure requiring improved fracture toughness and stiffness over alumina. Zirconia is noted for its high strength, toughness, wear and thermal properties. Its high material cost usually warrants its usage extending longer life and reduce down time where alumina fails in this applications.

During manufacture, the zirconia powder is combined with oxides such as Yttria, magnesia or tetragonal and the material is said to be partially stabilised or even it can be fully stabilised if required, varying the composition allows different properties to be enhanced.

Yttria (Y-PSZ) stabilised zirconia are mainly used for excellent wear resistance up to 400’C temperature while Magnesia (MgO-PSZ) zirconia are very good at high temperature offering excellent thermal shock and also wear resistance. Y-TZP Zirconia material has tetragonal in structure and has the highest flexural strength of all the zirconia based materials. The fine grain size of Y-TZP lends itself to be used in cutting tools where a very sharp edge can be achieved and maintained due to its high wear resistance. The fine grade size leads to a fully dense with excellent mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, impact toughness, thermal shock resistance and very low thermal conductivity.

Advantages of Zirconia Ceramics

High strength
High toughness
Excellent wear resistance
High hardness
Low thermal conductivity
Good chemical and corrosion resistanc

Applications of Zirconia Ceramics

Various wear parts for wear applications
Valves and pump components
Ceramic plain, balls and roller bearings
Tubes, fixtures etc. for High temperature
Copper tube extruding & reducer dies
Thermal insulation components
Wear resistance and Cutting blades
Ceramic knives
Grinding media

Properties of Ziroconia Materials

	Magnesia ZrO2+MgO	Yttria ZrO2+Y2O3	Tetragonal ZrO2+ YTZP	Toughened ZrO2+Al2O3
Density- g/cm3	5.70	6.02	6.04	5.5
Water Absorption-%	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.0
Compressive strength-Mpa	1700	2000	4000	2000
Flexural Strength – Mpa	600	950	2500	1800
Fracture Toughness- Mpa.m1/2	8-9	c	10	8
Young Modulus-Gpa	250	205	210	220
Max. Temperature °C	1000	1000	1000	1000
Thermal Conductivity-W/m’K	2.5	2.0	2.0	6.0
Thermal Expansion of Coefficient linear -10-6/°C	10.0	10.0	11.0	9.0
Volume resistance – Ohm cm	1010	1010	107	n/a
Dielectric Constant 1MHz	28	8.3	2.4	n/a
Dielectric Strength – kV/mm	9.0	9.0	8.7	n/a

All properties are at room temperature unless otherwise noted. Engineering data are representative, and are not intended as absolute nor warrantable and therefore it is for guidance only.