UprYZe™ ultra-tough ceramic

Ceramics are strong and hard materials that can resist both high temperature and very corrosive environments. The main constraint to use ceramics in some structural applications are their toughness and ability to withstand crack propagation. 

As all materials will eventually have defects, either from its manufacturing process or just by ageing, the objective for a tough ceramic is therefore to avoid cracks will induce a dramatic failure of the ceramic material.  

UprYZe™ is specifically developed to boost the toughness of technical ceramics and is suited for applications for which high mechanical performance and impact resistance are required. 

For ceramic applications UprYZe from Zirpro have the best positioning in terms of toughness, strength and impact resistance, making them the material of choice for the most demanding applications.

Properties include:

Outstanding toughness (Kic = 15 MPa.m^1/2)
Exceptional impact resistance (+50% vs. 3mol% Y-TZP).

Performance of UprYZe is achieved with a standard sintering cycle (1450°C-2hrs in air), no special sintering is required (for example: HIP).

Graph of Stress resistance before and after pre-cracking the ceramic sample

	Toughness (MPa^1/2)	Hardness (HV0.5)	Bending Strength (MPa)
Mg doped zirconia	9	11.5	650
3mol% Y doped Zirconia*	5.5	12.5	>1000
UprYZe-Shock^TM	15	13	>1000

*Ceramic obtained with ZirPro powders

UprYZe-Shock
UprYZe-Black

UprYZe-Shock is the original tough zirconia developed and patented by Zirpro. The performance achieves the status of one of the toughest ceramic materials available today, for use in welding pins and other industrial applications.

Featuring a tailored microstructure and composition, UprYZe-Shock enables the easy manufacturing of ceramic parts:

Three times tougher than Y-TZP whistle keeping a similar bending strength,
50% more impact resistant than 3mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia parts,
Maintaining high mechanical performance even if damaged,
Easy to sinter (1450°C – 2hrs in air).

UprYZe-Shock is suitable for applications requiring high toughness and shock resistance such as welding pins, knives, cutting tools and ceramic parts in consumer goods…

ZirPro offers UprYZe-Shock either as a dry powder (UprYZe-Shock) for injection molding or casting or as ready-to-press granules for uniaxial pressing or CIP (UprYZe-Shock G). 

	UprYZe Shock	UprYZe Shock G
	Dry Powder	Ready-To-Press
AI₂O₃ (wt%)	15
Y₂O₃+ CeO₂	6
SSA (m²/g)	8.5
D50 (µm)	0.2	60
Ceramic Density	>5.63
Bending Strength (MPa)	1000
Fracture Toughness (MPa.m^1/2)	15
Hardness (HV_0.5)	1300
Sintering Recommendation	1450°C - 2hrs

UprYZe-Black was developed for consumer goods applications. Polished and high gloss colors enhance aesthetical and mechanical performance together with high toughness (similar to UprYZe-Shock).

Based on a patented engineered composition, UprYZe-Black provides a unique combination of aesthetic and mechanical performance:

Deep black color for aesthetic ceramics,
Improved impact resistance similar to UprYZe-Shock: +50% vs. regular yttria doped zirconia,
Ceramic with high mechanical performance (Toughness of 15MPa.M^1/2, Bending strength of 1000MPa).

UprYZe-Black is proposed either as a dry powder (UprYZe-Black) for injection molding or casting or as ready-to-press granules (UprYZe-Black-G) for uniaxial pressing or CIP.

	UprYZe Black	UprYZe Black-G
	Dry Powder	Ready-To-Press
Y₂O₃(wt%)	3.3
Pigment (wt%)	5.0
AI₂O₃ (wt%)	1.0
SSA (m²/g)	9.5
D50 (µm)	0.2	60
Ceramic Density	>5.99
Bending Strength (MPa)	1000
Fracture Toughness (MPa.m^1/2)	15
Hardness (HV_0.5)	1250
Sintering Recommendation	1400°C - 2hrs

UprYZe™ Ultra-Tough Ceramic

UprYZe™ Ultra-Tough Ceramic