Indentation behaviour of alloyed zirconia ceramics
Czernuszka JT., Page TF.
The hardness behaviour of four partially stabilized zirconias has been examined as a function of load and temperature. For all materials, it was found that as the load was decreased the hardness increased, by up to 50%. However, a further reduction in load caused a drastic reduction in hardness. The degree of this near-surface softening could be correlated to the proportion of tetragonal phase present. As the temperature of indentation was increased the hardness decreased. Irrespective of alloying and ageing, the hardness values tended towards the same value at the eutectoid temperature. © 1992 Chapman & Hall.