Ceramic with high fracture toughness and thermal barrier properties.
Core Principles & Analysis
About 3-8 mol% yttria retains the tetragonal phase, whose stress-induced transformation squeezes cracks shut — the 'ceramic steel' toughening reported by Garvie in Nature in 1975.
Plasma-sprayed YSZ thermal-barrier coatings let jet turbine blades operate in gas hotter than the melting point of their superalloy substrate.
Because it conducts oxygen ions at high temperature, YSZ is the electrolyte in automotive lambda oxygen sensors and solid oxide fuel cells.