Residual Stresses in Alumina/Ceria-Stabilized Zirconia Composites

Measurements of the residual stresses in Al₂O₃/Ce-TZP (12 mol% CeO₂) sintered composites, containing 10, 20, and 40 vol% zirconia, obtained by neutron diffraction and by piezospectroscopy using optical fluorescence and Raman are compared. The techniques give essentially the same values for the spatial average of the hydrostatic residual stresses in the two phases despite the difference in the parameters measured in the two techniques. The measured stresses are also in accord with those predicted from a stochastic stress analysis for materials cooling from a stressfree temperature of ∼1180°C. Over the range of volume fraction investigated the hydrostatic stress in the alumina phase varies linearly with zirconia content, corresponding most closely to the upper Hashin bound.