Abstract: The microstructure of a fine-grained 16.5mol% CeO2 stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Ce-TZP has been investigated by TEM and it is shown that the mi-crostructures of samples fractured at 298, 77 and 4.2 K change significantly. At 298K there is no stress-induced martensite but a few anti-phase boundaries (APBs) in tetragonal (t) parent phase. With a decrease in temperature, monoclinic (m) product or mariensite within retained t-phase appears. The morphologies are characterized as lenticular and block-like at 77 K and as lenticular and butterfly-like at 4.2 K. The relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties is also discassed in this paper.

Key words: microstructure, stress-induced martensite, mechanical property