A stress-induced aging phenomenon was observed to occur at room temperature in deformation bands introduced into a 8.5 mol% ceria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia/alumina composite by flexural loading. Over a period of 100 days, the concentration of monoclinic zirconia within a deformation band increases and, in addition, the wedge-shaped deformation band grows with time. Accompanying these two changes are an increase in the tensile stress in the remaining tetragonal zirconia within the deformation band and a consequential increase in the overall compressive stress within the band. The average value of the monoclinic concentration within the deformation band was found to increase parabolically with time, suggesting the mechanism responsible for the observed aging is diffusion limited. Away from the deformation bands, no aging was observed to occur suggesting aging is stress dependent.
