Reverse martensitic transformation in alumina-15 vol% zirconia nanostructured powder synthesized by high energy ball milling

In the present work, three alumina-15 vol% zirconia composites with Y2O3, MgO as dopants and without oxide as dopant have been investigated. High energy ball milling (HEBM) provides the positive thermodynamic driving force for monoclinic to tetragonal transformation and it reduces starting temperature for the reverse martensitic transformation, meanwhile mobility of zirconium cations and oxygen anions are enhanced in zirconia by HEBM. The general, albeit heuristic, reasoning is corroborated by nanocrystallity, particle size and also the retained monoclinic seem to play an important role. After 10 h HEBM, approximately 28% zirconia tetragonal phase is achieved. Non-stoichiometric tetragonal zirconia phase; Zr0.95O2 is seen to have been achieved by high energy ball milling (HEBM). The structural and compositional evolutions during HEBM have been investigated using X-ray diffraction method (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). High resolution transmission electron microscope (TEM) is also used for further understanding about the phenomenological changes taking place during high energy ball milling. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.