In order to complement the structural characterisation by high resolution e
lectron microscopy and perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy (PAC) of
Al2O3 coated nano-composite ZrO2, XAFS spectra have been acquired and analy
sed. The electron micrographs showed fringes of a well ordered lattice and
well defined crystal faces of the as-produced powder whereas the PAC spectr
a indicated a strongly distorted short range order.
On the basis of the XAFS data, a structural model for the ZrO2 core of the
nano-composite ZrO2/Al2O3 with a well ordered Zr lattice and a sevenfold, s
trongly distorted nearest neighbour oxygen shell is proposed. A smooth temp
erature dependence without an indication for a phase transformation up to a
temperature of 700K has been revealed.