Monolithic alumina bodies with a grain size of 0.5 μm and submicrometer tetragonal ZrO 2 (3 mol% Y 2 O 3 ) polycrystals were produced and investigated. With decreasing indentation load, the hardness increases but may again decrease below about 5 N; relevant measurements require the application of fairly high loads. Decreasing grain sizes increase the hardness of alumina and zirconia ceramics even for very small grain sizes in the submicrometer range.
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Andreas Krell (1995) studied this question.
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