Additionally, AZ composites feature high strength, fracture toughness, elasticity, hardness, and wear resistance.
The mechanical robustness compared to alumina is attributed to the displacive phase transformation of the metastable tetragonal zirconia grains when the material is stressed.
The stress concentration at a crack tip can cause a transformation from a tetragonal crystal structure to a monoclinic one, which has an associated volume expansion of zirconia.
This volume expansion effectively pushes back the propagation of the crack and results in higher toughness and strength.
[3] Recently, there have been many uses for Zirconia Toughened Alumina, including valve seals, bushing, pump components, joint implants, wire bonding capillaries, cutting tool inserts, and many more.