ABSTRACT

One of the major developments in the twentieth century took place at the CSIRO, Melbourne, thanks to the work by Ron Garvie et al. [1]. They developed the partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ), which was later toughened by phase transformation. Phase transformations, alloying, quenching, and tempering techniques were applied to a range of ceramic systems. Signicant improvements to the fracture toughness, ductility, and impact resistance of ceramics were realized, and thus the gap in physical properties between ceramics and metals began to close. More recent developments in nonoxide and tougher ceramics (e.g., nitride ceramics) have narrowed the gap even further.