Mechanisms of high-temperature creep of fully stabilized zirconia single crystals as a function of the yttria content

High-temperature creep behavior of yttria fully stabilized zirconia single crystals with various yttria contents in the interval 9.4 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 21 mol% has been studied, The mechanical data have been collected as a function of both the temperature and the yttria concentration, The creep behavior has been explained in terms of a transition between a dislocation viscous glide and a dislocation climb controlled mechanism, making use of a generalized version of a classical model for alloys proposed by Burton, The yttria concentration dependence of the creep rate has been connected with results on cationic diffusivity, with a possible influence of impurities.