Manufacturing of ZTA composites for biomedical applications

Zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) ceramics are interesting materials for biomedical applications due to their high strength, hardness, fracture toughness, abrasion resistance and excellent biocompatibility. The manufacturing of biomedical ceramic components involves the development of an integrated production process, beginning with the conditioning of the raw materials to the final component. Near-net-shape manufacturing technology is used to achieve a significant improvement in quality, production efficiency and cost. ZTA containing 10 vol-% zirconia (1.5Y) was produced from submicron size powders. The rheological behavior of 10 vol-% zirconia ZTA was investigated in order to optimize the recipes and predict the molding behavior. ZTA was in-situ reinforced with 5 vol-% strontium hexa-aluminate platelets with the intention to improve the mechanical properties. Results show that reinforcement of hexa-aluminate platelets enhance bending strength and fracture toughness but reduce the hardness of injection molded ZTA.