Action of explosive loads on a metastable zirconium-dioxide structure

The influence of nonuniformity of the initial zirconium dioxide on the polymorphic and structural transformations in explosive loading is investigated. In the highly disperse quenched structure t'-ZrO2, there is further reduction in domain size if their boundaries are not stabilized by an Al2O3 glass phase. In preliminarily annealed equilibrium t-ZrO2, as a result of loading, the structure becomes increasingly fragmentary and prone to t --> m transformation. In repeated explosive loading, the structural changes in quenched t'-ZrO2 and annealed t-ZrO2 are similar.