Ferroelastic Domain Switching in Tetragonal Zirconia Single Crystals—Microstructural Aspects

Ferroelastic domain switching is one of the possible toughening mechanisms in ceramic materials. Microstructural evidence of domain reorientation (switching) in polydomain tetragonal zirconia single crystals is observed upon the application of a unidirectional compressive stress at 1000° and 1400°C. Dark‐field imaging of the three {112{ tetragonal twin variants in a [111] zone indicates that two sets of twin variants grow at the expense of the third set upon application of uniaxial compression. The diminishing variant is the one with its c axis parallel to the compression axis. Inducing cracks into polydomain tetragonal zirconia single crystals provides further evidence of domain reorientation near the crack surface. It is noted again that two sets of twin variants grow at the expense of the third set. A construction for the orientation relationship of domains and their twin boundaries is presented, and a relation between shear stress and reorientation is proposed.