Mechanical and Tribological Properties of SPS-Sintered Y-TZP: The Effect of Sintering Temperature

This work systematically investigates the influence of two spark plasma sintering (SPS) temperatures (1400 °C and 1600 °C) on the mechanical and tribological properties of two yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramics: 3 mol.% Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (3Y-TZP) and 1.5 mol.% Y<...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Dávid Medveď, Jana Andrejovská, Viktor Puchý
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Crystals
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/15/7/593
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850076915843465216
author Dávid Medveď
Jana Andrejovská
Viktor Puchý
author_facet Dávid Medveď
Jana Andrejovská
Viktor Puchý
author_sort Dávid Medveď
collection DOAJ
description This work systematically investigates the influence of two spark plasma sintering (SPS) temperatures (1400 °C and 1600 °C) on the mechanical and tribological properties of two yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramics: 3 mol.% Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (3Y-TZP) and 1.5 mol.% Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (1.5Y-TZP). The ceramics’ microhardness, nanohardness, Young’s modulus, fracture toughness, and tribological performance were evaluated. The results show that 3Y-TZP maintains high hardness (Vickers hardness HV ~1300; nanohardness ~17.1 GPa) and stable fracture toughness (~4.2 MPa·m½), nearly independently of sintering temperature. In contrast, 1.5Y-TZP exhibits a critical trade-off: sintering at 1400 °C yields exceptional fracture toughness (~6.2 MPa·m½), but increasing the temperature to 1600 °C causes a sharp drop to ~4.5 MPa·m½. Tribologically, the highest wear resistance under a 5 N load was observed for the 3Y-TZP sample sintered at 1600 °C. These findings suggest that for low-yttria compositions, higher SPS temperatures can trigger detrimental microstructural changes that degrade toughness. The results provide crucial insights for tailoring SPS parameters and Y-TZP compositions for specific high-performance applications, balancing the competing requirements of hardness and fracture toughness.
format Article
id doaj-art-4fe646e27bfe486d8715e0ababfe11a3
institution DOAJ
issn 2073-4352
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Crystals
spelling doaj-art-4fe646e27bfe486d8715e0ababfe11a32025-08-20T02:45:55ZengMDPI AGCrystals2073-43522025-06-0115759310.3390/cryst15070593Mechanical and Tribological Properties of SPS-Sintered Y-TZP: The Effect of Sintering TemperatureDávid Medveď0Jana Andrejovská1Viktor Puchý2Institute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 47, 040 01 Kosice, SlovakiaInstitute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 47, 040 01 Kosice, SlovakiaInstitute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 47, 040 01 Kosice, SlovakiaThis work systematically investigates the influence of two spark plasma sintering (SPS) temperatures (1400 °C and 1600 °C) on the mechanical and tribological properties of two yttria-stabilized zirconia ceramics: 3 mol.% Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (3Y-TZP) and 1.5 mol.% Y<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> (1.5Y-TZP). The ceramics’ microhardness, nanohardness, Young’s modulus, fracture toughness, and tribological performance were evaluated. The results show that 3Y-TZP maintains high hardness (Vickers hardness HV ~1300; nanohardness ~17.1 GPa) and stable fracture toughness (~4.2 MPa·m½), nearly independently of sintering temperature. In contrast, 1.5Y-TZP exhibits a critical trade-off: sintering at 1400 °C yields exceptional fracture toughness (~6.2 MPa·m½), but increasing the temperature to 1600 °C causes a sharp drop to ~4.5 MPa·m½. Tribologically, the highest wear resistance under a 5 N load was observed for the 3Y-TZP sample sintered at 1600 °C. These findings suggest that for low-yttria compositions, higher SPS temperatures can trigger detrimental microstructural changes that degrade toughness. The results provide crucial insights for tailoring SPS parameters and Y-TZP compositions for specific high-performance applications, balancing the competing requirements of hardness and fracture toughness.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/15/7/593Y-TZPspark plasma sintering (SPS)sintering temperaturemechanical propertiestribological propertiesmicrostructure
spellingShingle Dávid Medveď
Jana Andrejovská
Viktor Puchý
Mechanical and Tribological Properties of SPS-Sintered Y-TZP: The Effect of Sintering Temperature
Crystals
Y-TZP
spark plasma sintering (SPS)
sintering temperature
mechanical properties
tribological properties
microstructure
title Mechanical and Tribological Properties of SPS-Sintered Y-TZP: The Effect of Sintering Temperature
title_full Mechanical and Tribological Properties of SPS-Sintered Y-TZP: The Effect of Sintering Temperature
title_fullStr Mechanical and Tribological Properties of SPS-Sintered Y-TZP: The Effect of Sintering Temperature
title_full_unstemmed Mechanical and Tribological Properties of SPS-Sintered Y-TZP: The Effect of Sintering Temperature
title_short Mechanical and Tribological Properties of SPS-Sintered Y-TZP: The Effect of Sintering Temperature
title_sort mechanical and tribological properties of sps sintered y tzp the effect of sintering temperature
topic Y-TZP
spark plasma sintering (SPS)
sintering temperature
mechanical properties
tribological properties
microstructure
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/15/7/593
work_keys_str_mv AT davidmedved mechanicalandtribologicalpropertiesofspssinteredytzptheeffectofsinteringtemperature
AT janaandrejovska mechanicalandtribologicalpropertiesofspssinteredytzptheeffectofsinteringtemperature
AT viktorpuchy mechanicalandtribologicalpropertiesofspssinteredytzptheeffectofsinteringtemperature