Effect of grain size on Hertzian contact damage in 9 mol% Ce-TZP ceramics

Abstract

The Hertzian contact damage in 9 mol% Ce-TZP ceramics with different grain sizes has been investigated. Single-cycle tests were conducted on materials of four grain sizes, 1.1, 1.6, 2.2 and 3 μm. The indentation stress–strain curves for all materials show striking nonlinearity and deviation from the Hertzian elastic response, illustrating a significant quasi-plastic component in the contact damage response. Subsurface damage patterns for these four materials are compared and contrasted using a bonded-interface sectioning technique. The transformation and deformation behaviour, characterised using optical and scanning electron microscopy, of the surface and subsurface regions revealed extensive deformation and compression-driven subsurface damage in the materials. Acoustic emission was used as a complementary technique in order to identify the damage processes during a load–unload cycle. Contact deformation and radial bands extending from the indent impressions due to autocatalytic tetragonal–monoclinic transformation are evident in all except the finest grained (1.1 μm) material. Irrespective of grain size there is no evidence of ring or cone cracking with all material showing hemispherical subsurface damage or yield zones resulting from the stress-induced tetragonal–monoclinic (t–m) transformation with extensive distributed microcracking within these areas for the 1.6, 2.2 and 3 μm grain-size materials. © 2002 Elsevier Science Lt