How do the grains slide in fine-grained zirconia polycrystals at high temperature?

Degradation of mechanical properties of zirconia polycrystals is hardly discussed in terms of solution-precipitation grain-boundary sliding due to experimental controversies over imaging of intergranular amorphous phases at high and room temperatures. Here, the authors applied the techniques of mechanical spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to shed light on the amorphization of grain interfaces at high temperature where the interface reaction determines the behavior of fine-grained zirconia polycrystals. They present mechanical spectroscopy results, which yield evidences of an intergranular amorphous phase in silica doped and in high-purity zirconia. Quenching of zirconia polycrystals reveals an intergranular amorphous phase on TEM images at room temperature.