Evidence of mechanical alloying in ball milled ZrO2-Y2O3 system based on HRTEM image processing analysis

We investigated, using high resolution electron microscopy and image proces sing, the early stages of the mechanical. alloying process of a mixture of zirconia and yttrium oxide powders. Molar fraction of yttrium oxide was 0.1 0. We focused our investigation on the grain boundary region and the region of overlapping layers of zirconia and yttria. Fourier filtering revealed, at the atomic level, one possible sequence of alloying, which occurred in t he grain boundary and in the overlapping layers.