Abstract
Structural reliability, biocompatibility and bioinertness are fundamental prerequisites for bioceramics used in artificial hip and knee joints. Among structural properties, superior fracture toughness is necessary for guaranteeing high reliability during implantation lifetime. Bioinert ceramics employed in artificial joints are mainly limited to alumina and zirconia materials. In this paper, the critical crack-tip stress intensity factor, KI0, and the tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase-transformation behavior of a 3 mol % Y2O3-doped tetragonal ZrO2 polycrystals (3Y-TZP) were studied as a function of grain size. 3Y-TZP’s with four different grain sizes were prepared and the size and morphology of the monoclinic transformation zone generated around the tip of an indentation crack were analyzed by quantitative Raman microprobe spectroscopy. The stress intensity factor, KI0, was evaluated by the crack opening displacement (COD) method using a recently proposed equation for calculating the compliance of an indentation crack.
Published Version
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