Zirconia

The nanoscale plastic deformation of yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (YSTZ) is highly dependent on the crystallographic orientations, i.e., dislocation is induced when the loading direction is 45° tilted to {111} and {101} slip planes, while tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation dominates the plastic deformation when loading direction is perpendicular to the slip planes.

Molecular dynamics (MD) is employed to investigate the plastic deformation mechanisms of single crystalline yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (YSTZ) nanopillars under uniaxial compression. Simulation results show that the nanoscale plastic deformation of YSTZ is strongly dependent on the crystallographic orientation of zirconia nanopillars. For the first time, the experimental explored tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation is reproduced by MD simulations in some particular loading directions.