Hafnia and hafnia-toughened ceramics

Hafnia (HfO2) and hafnium-based materials are traditionally regarded as technologically important materials in the nuclear industry, a consequence of their exceptionally high neutron absorption coefficient. Following the discovery of transformation toughening in the mid 1970s, a considerable research effort has been devoted to zirconia (ZrO2)-toughened ceramics (ZTCs). They are considered to be potentially useful materials for structural applications at low and intermediate temperatures (T 1000 °C) is related to the low temperature of the tetragonal to monoclinic transformation in ZrO2. On the basis that HfO2 exhibits a similar crystal structure and in particular that its tetragonal to monoclinic transformation temperature (∼1700 °C) is approximately 700 °C higher than that for ZrO2, it has been suggested that high-temperature transformation toughening could be possible in HfO2-toughened ceramics (HTCs). Although the concepts behind this suggestion are universally appreciated, only a limited success has been made of the fabrication and the microstructural and mechanical property evaluation of these materials. The fracture toughness values obtained so far in HfO2 toughened ceramics are, in fact, considerably lower than those obtained in their ZrO2 counterparts. A great deal of further research work is therefore required in order to understand fully and to exploit toughened ceramics in the HfO2-based and HfO2-containing systems. This review covers the science and technology of HfO2 and HfO2-toughened ceramics in terms of processing, phase transformation, microstructure, and mechanical properties.