Fracture resistance of surface-nitrided zirconia

摘要

Heat treatments have been conducted at 1650℃ for 2 hours in Y-TZP stabilised with 2.5 % molar of yttria in two different environments: in air and in nitrogen gas with the specimens embedded in a zirconium nitride powder bed. Relevant microstructural changes were induced by these heat treatments. It is highlighted the formation of a nitrided surface layer of about 400μm in thickness. Such layer has clear microstructural differences with respect to the bulk, and is formed by different sublayers with cubic and tetragonal phases with distinct degrees of transformability, as revealed by XRD and Raman spectroscopy. The fracture toughness and the hardness of the nitrided surface layer are higher than for the original Y-TZP.