Erosion Damage and Stregth Degradation of Zirconia-Toughened Alumina

The erosion wear and posterosion strength properties of Al2O3 containing 10 vol% ZrO2 were determined as a function of the kinetic energy of the impacting sharp particles. Samples were prepared with three different surface treatments to obtain different amounts of tetragonal zirconia on the surface. With all three surface treatments a transformation from tetragonal to monoclinic phase due to the impacting particles was observed. The erosive wear was independent of the initial amount of tetragonal phase at the surface and was not statistically different from that found for commercial alumina. The posterosion strength was relatively insensitive to increasing kinetic energy of the eroding particles, indicating a rising fracture resistance behavior for this zirconia-toughened alumina.