Strain relaxation through microcracking in zirconia polycrystals probed by in situ high temperature coupled Small Angle X-ray Scattering and

We shown that during cooling a significant part of the tetragonal zirconia crystals located into a dense zirconia polycrystals are transform to the monoclinic form in a very narrow temperature range. The aim of the present proposal is to demonstrate through in situ high temperature Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) and X-ray diffraction coupled measurements that this behavior is due to the formation of a dense nanocracks network