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
