The advantages and disadvantages of zirconia ceramics

Zirconia ceramics (ZrO2 ceramics) have superior properties compared to other ceramics. They feature high melting and boiling points, great hardness, are insulators at room temperature, and possess electrical conductivity at high temperatures. Nowadays, zirconia ceramics are widely used in various fields. So when enterprises and manufacturers want to choose zirconia ceramics, how should they view their advantages and disadvantages?

Advantages of zirconia ceramics:

It features high strength and good toughness, and can be made into mechanical parts such as push rods, connecting rods, bearings, cylinder liners and piston caps. The semiconductor properties enable it to be made into high-temperature heating elements.

Zirconia ceramics have high hardness, with a Mohs hardness of 8.5 to 9.1. They can be made into cold forming tools, ceramic rod processing and forming molds, wire drawing molds, cutting tools, etc.

3. Insulating, free from the pollution of metals and electroplating, it is an ideal environmentally friendly material for the watch industry. Rich in color, extremely hard, beautiful and durable, not damaging the skin, and with a unique luster, the multi-color ceramic watch cases, bezels, dials, clasps, and other products have an extraordinary texture and visual effect, making them a popular choice for many electronic product watch cases.

4. Zirconia industrial ceramics have a hardness close to that of natural diamonds, are lighter than metals, and possess gemstone characteristics such as never wearing out and never discoloring.

5. Extremely high wear resistance, never rusts, never discolors, and will never irritate the skin.

Disadvantages of zirconia material:

Zirconia has three crystal forms: monoclinic, tetragonal and cubic phases. At room temperature, zirconia only appears in the monoclinic phase. When heated to around 1100℃, it transforms into the tetravalent phase, and when heated to even higher temperatures, it changes to the cubic phase.

Due to the significant volume change that occurs when the monodiagonal direction is transformed to the 4 direction, and the large volume change in the opposite direction during cooling, it is prone to cracking of the product, which limits the application of pure zirconia in high-temperature fields.