Zirconia ceramics have high strength, high toughness and good wear resistance, and are mainly used in bearings and other production. Compared with alumina ceramics, the two have their own characteristics, price, color, hardness and other aspects are different. The choice of material depends on the specific application field. Pay attention to product color, texture, luster, etc.

Zirconia ceramics is a kind of high strength ceramics, its high toughness, high density, and good wear resistance, mainly used in the production of bearings, especially the production of high precision bearings of very good quality. It can not only be used for the production of medical ceramics, artificial joints, etc., but also for many other fields, however, the number of times it appears in everyone's sight together with alumina ceramics is not a lot. What is the difference between zirconia and alumina ceramics? Which is better? This article from all aspects of comparison.

1. Composition: The main composition of the two materials are α-ZrO2(zirconia), trace impurity elements (such as Al, Cr, Ti, etc.) will affect the physical properties and mechanical strength of the material. However, the current industrial production of alumina and zirconia are made of uniform particle size fine powder and ball grinding agent and adhesive ball grinding, through sintering, which is easy to process and can reduce costs. In specific applications, although they are used to make high strength and high wear resistance products such as metal binders and other cemented carbide bonding equivalent ceramic parts processing - the "excellent products" are only defined by 99.9%-99.8% : the current good brand ceramic tile hardness can only reach more than 8 degrees.

2. Color: under the premise of white, the higher the purity, the more white and delicate the color. If a small amount of alumina is added, the color will appear milky white. Different brands and manufacturers of zirconia opal porcelain color is also different. However, some manufacturers add zirconia will make the color of the mud appear a variety of milk yellow! The customer will glaze water after the superposition occurs, resulting in the back to the semi-white color. (The manufacturing raw material presents a certain "activity", because the collocation material determines the color situation). If the same embryo body is used as a carving celadon green with yellow phenomenon (can intuitively see to do the same hanging pulp beating different materials glaze will also appear) will directly affect the product color unity! This is another phenomenon in the market. Some manufacturers will use iron powder as a toning material (mixed with porcelain mud). So compare the two shades of pure white and cream white. (The more yellow the more obvious the amount of addition) When observing alumina and zirconia opal porcelain products, more attention should be paid to the glaze and the products after firing.

3. Price: The price of zirconia sold on the market is generally higher than the price of alumina. Because of the high cost caused by the production process, the price is relatively high! There is a widespread phenomenon in the market that the mud with high alumina content replaces the pure zirconia opalescent glaze. Used to make common celadon and new improved tea set series or white glaze. (High-end customers should pay attention to the brightness effect of the white glaze produced when the alumina content is insufficient, which is not obvious with opulent light and matte is not sold at a price). This is just a misconception and it's not good for development

4. Mechanical strength: The greater the mechanical strength means the higher the wear resistance, the greater the hardness, the higher the mechanical strength of zirconia is higher than that of alumina

5 Hardness: Generally speaking, the higher the hardness of course, the better to hold in the hand is not easy to break more durable (in the same case, the corners are not sharp and it is easy to break) after testing, the hardness of the two is roughly the same with the Rockwell hardness tester, the two are basically the same, but pay attention to the choice of Rockwell hardness tester steel needle to use the same material. Here, too, the texture and brightness of the products prepared by the manufacturers adding materials with high iron content are not the same. Some are not bright enough and the inner wall is not smooth with a high-magnifying glass, which shows that the texture is very different, and the application has its own focus, not a simple measure of physical property indicators can be defined clearly!

6. Wear resistance: Theoretically speaking, at the same time of strength, the higher the hardness, the better the wear resistance, but in fact, this is not the absolute wear resistance and compressive wear resistance is roughly equivalent, but from another point of view, it is not difficult to find that the hardness of ceramic materials has an impact on its wear resistance, the greater the hardness, the stronger the wear resistance. In terms of practical application, the wear resistance also has a lot to do with its toughness.

7. Toughness: The toughness of zirconia ceramics is better than that of alumina ceramics.

8. Corrosion resistance: There is little difference in corrosion resistance.

In summary, from the comparison of the above aspects, the two have their own characteristics, and the difference is not big. The choice of which material needs to be determined according to the specific application field. However, for ordinary consumers, the difference between the two is not obvious, as long as you choose a regular brand of products. At the same time, it should be noted that when purchasing ceramic products, we should pay attention to whether the color, texture, luster and other aspects of the product meet the requirements to avoid buying unqualified products.