Tetragonal ⇔ monoclinic phase transition temperature of rare-earth-doped zirconia prepared by arc melting

Abstract

The tetragonal (t) ⇔ monoclinic (m) phase transition temperature of compositionally homogeneous arc-melted ZrO2RO1.5 solid solutions (R=Nd, Sm, Er, Yb and Sc) was investigated by TMA (thermomechanical analysis;) dilatometer) and high-temperature X-ray diffraction. The t⇔m transition was observed in ZrO2 x mol% RO1.5(x=0, 2 and 4 for R=Nd, Sm, Er and Yb, and xEQ2, 4, 6 for R=Sc), but not in specimens with higher dopant content. Th equilibrium temperature Tt-m0 between t-and m-phases decreased linearly with an increase of dopant content x, the degree of which was larger for dopants with larger ionic radii.