Mechanisms of High‐Temperature Creep of Fully Stabilized Zirconia Single Crystals as a Function of the Yttria Content

High‐temperature creep behavior of yttria fully stabilized zirconia single crystals with various yttria contents in the interval 9.4 ≤ x ≤ 21 mol% has been studied. The mechanical data have been collected as a function of both the temperature and the yttria concentration. The creep behavior has been explained in terms of a transition between a dislocation viscous glide and a dislocation climb controlled mechanism, making use of a generalized version of a classical model for alloys proposed by Burton. The yttria concentration dependence of the creep rate has been connected with results on cationic diffusivity, with a possible influence of impurities.