Abstract
Abstract
The article discusses the impact of rare-earth microadditives on the mechanical properties of nanostructured zirconia crystals stabilized with yttrium oxide as applied to the friction units of devices. The mechanical properties of the surface layers were studied by the nondestructive method of kinetic microindentation. Compressive strength was determined by the standard destructive compression test method. Comparative tribological tests were carried out with dry sliding friction of the test samples on steel according to the disk-finger scheme. The effect of the ionic radius of the alloying element on the compressive strength is investigated. It was established that the doping of zirconia crystals is ambiguous, because it can improve and worsen the tribological properties of crystals. On the basis of the study, a comparison is made of the mechanical properties of crystals and ceramics used in the supports of the axis of precision instruments and areas that are promising for the use of zirconia crystals in instrumentation are identified.