Misfit dislocation formation at the c/t interphase boundary in Y-TZP

The interphase boundary between the front of a cubic and tetragonal matrix grown in a yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal was investigated by conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Periodic contrasts with a regular spacing were clearly observed on the boundary. CTEM and HRTEM observation revealed that there are misfit dislocations with a Burgers vector of 1/2〈110〉. The yttrium cation distribution across the interphase boundary was measured by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy using a probe size <1 nm. The yttrium cation content changes sharply at the c/t interphase boundary with a transition width of about 10 nm.