Jf. Li et al., X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON-SPECTROSCOPY INVESTIGATION ON THE LOW-TEMPERATUREDEGRADATION OF 2 MOL-PERCENT Y2O3-ZRO2 CERAMICS, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 79(12), 1996, pp. 3109-3112
2 mol% Y2O3-ZrO2 polycrystals were annealed in water and under vacuum
to highlight the effect of the presence of H2O on the low-temperature
degradation transformation. The specimen surfaces with monoclinic phas
es transformed during annealing in the different environments were ana
lyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with special interest on the
electron binding energy change of the constituent ions of the 2 mol%
Y2O3-ZrO2 ceramics after the degradation transformation, It was found
that no change occurred for the electron-bonding energies of core leve
ls of zirconium ions after the transformation, whereas Y-OH bonds were
formed during annealing in water. This result suggested a possibility
that the preferred hydration of yttrium took place at the surface of
Y2O3-partially-stabilized ZrO2, which is likely to be the reason for t
he low-temperature degradation accelerated by the presence of H2O.