Preparation and properties of toughened yellow zirconia ceramics

To obtain the high toughness yellow ceramic, using the Y2O3 (5%) stabilized ZrO2 as main starting material, Al2O3 as toughen reagent, NH4VO3, V2O5 as colorant, and mixed with ball mill, molded with dry press method and two times sintered. By testing the properties and structure of the ceramic, we have optimized the best technical conditions, and the mechanism of toughness and color present has been studied. The result shows that the NH4VO3 as colorant is better than V2O5, and the color is between X = 0.396-0.412 and Y = 0.402-0.390. The highest bending strength of toughened ZrO2 ceramics is .1138 MPa, and the fracture toughness is 14.8 MPa m1/2. The toughen mechanism is that phase transformation of ZrO2 and the dispersion of toughen reagents, and the color causing is by the colorful ion (V4+) entered into the zirconia crystals lattice of the ceramic.