Cubic-to-Tetragonal (t') Transformation in Zirconia-Containing Systems

The coexistence of the cubic fluorite and tetragonal phases in rapidly quenched samples was studied in the ZrO2‐MO1.5 systems for M = Sc, In, Y, and rare earths (R). Spontaneous transformation from metastable cubic phase was triggered at room temperature by a mechanical force. Isolated tetragonal platelets in the cubic matrix were bounded by [101] habit planes and contained anti‐phase boundaries. The tetragonality decreased with stabilizer content and vanished at around 18 mol% for M = Y and R, 23 mol% for M = Sc, and 25 mol% for M = In, all at room temperature. With increasing temperature, the tetragonality initially increased because of anisotropic thermal expansion, then decreased rapidly, after reaching a maximum, as the temperature for the tetragonal‐to‐cubic transformation was approached. Being a first‐order martensitic transformation, the cubic‐to‐tetragonal transformation is accompanied by a discontinuous change of tetragonality and a hysteresis loop as the temperature or composition passes through the equilibrium value.