Martensitic transformation in zirconia. Part I: nanometer scale prediction and measurement of transformation induced relief

TL;DR

This study combines atomic force microscopy and crystallographic theory to accurately predict and measure the surface relief caused by martensitic transformation in zirconia, revealing strain energy as the key factor.

Contribution

It introduces a validated model linking crystallography and surface relief, enabling precise nanometer-scale analysis of transformation in zirconia.

Findings

Excellent agreement between theory and AFM measurements

Crystallographic orientation determined from relief features

Strain energy controls low-temperature autoclave transformation

Abstract

We investigate by atomic force microscopy (AFM) the surface relief resulting from martensitic tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation induced by low temperature autoclave aging in ceria-stabilized zirconia. AFM appears as a very powerful tool to investigate martensite relief quantitatively and with a great precision. The crystallographic phenomenological theory is used to predict the expected relief induced by the transformation, for the particular case of lattice correspondence ABC1, where tetragonal c axis becomes the monoclinic c axis. A model for variants spatial arrangement for this lattice correspondence is proposed and validated by the experimental observations. An excellent agreement is found between the quantitative calculations outputs and the experimental measurements at nanometer scale yielded by AFM. All the observed features are explained fully quantitatively by the calculations, with discrepancies between calculations and quantitative experimental measurements within the measurements and calculations precision range. In particular, the crystallographic orientation of the transformed grains is determined from the local characteristics of transformation induced relief. It is finally demonstrated that the strain energy is the controlling factor of the surface transformation induced by low temperature autoclave treatments in this material.