Abstract
Zirconia ceramics (ZrO2) are bioinert materials with excellent biocompatibility, high resistance to corrosion and to wear, high toughness in comparison with other advanced ceramics, and suitable for various structural applications. These properties are related to their microstructure and effects caused by crystalline phases transformation, intrinsic of zirconia. In this work, stabilized zirconia ceramic (ZrO2with 3 mol % yttria) was produced using the synthesized powder obtained by the sol-gel process, in which citric acid was chosen as complexing agent and maize starch as gelling. The zirconia ceramic was characterized with respect to relative density (99.75±0.10 %), crystalline phases (predominantly tetragonal), microstructure (homogeneous and small grains), flexural strength (510±60 MPa), Vickers hardness (11.6±0.3 GPa) and fracture toughness (Niihara = 11.8±2.9 MPa.m1/2and Evans = 10.9±1.2 MPa.m1/2). It can be concluded that the sol-gel process is an attractive route to obtain zirconia ceramics with good mechanical properties.
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