A novel fine-grained orthorhombic ZrO₂ ceramic stabilized with 12 mol% Ta doping was fabricated by spark-plasma sintering from home-made powders, and its high-temperature mechanical properties evaluated for the first time by compressive creep tests in both Ar and air. It was found that the high-temperature plasticity of the ceramic deformed in Ar, under which the Ta-doped orthorhombic ZrO₂ is a black suboxide with abundant oxygen vacancies in its crystal structure, is controlled by grain boundary sliding (stress exponent ∼2, and activation energy ∼780–800 kJ/mol). However, the high-temperature plasticity of the ceramic deformed in air, under which the Ta-doped orthorhombic ZrO₂ is a white oxide due to the elimination in situ of oxygen vacancies, is controlled by recovery creep (stress exponent ∼3, and activation energy ∼750 kJ/mol). It was also observed that black Ta-doped orthorhombic ZrO₂ is more creep resistant than its white counterpart with the same grain size, and that the former deforms as the more conventional Y₂O₃-stabilized ZrO₂ does.

采用自制粉末，通过火花等离子烧结制备了一种新型的细晶斜方晶ZrO ₂陶瓷，其掺杂的钽掺杂量为12 mol％，并通过压缩蠕变试验首次对其高温机械性能进行了评估。 。研究发现，在氩气中变形的陶瓷的高温可塑性受到晶界滑动的控制（应力指数〜2，其中，Ta掺杂的正交晶ZrO ₂是一种黑色的次氧化物，在其晶体结构中具有大量的氧空位）。活化能约为780-800 kJ / mol）。然而，陶瓷的高温可塑性在空气中变形，在这种情况下，由于原位消除， Ta掺杂的正交晶ZrO ₂为白色氧化物。氧空位的多少由恢复蠕变（应力指数〜3，活化能〜750 kJ / mol）控制。还观察到，具有相同晶粒尺寸的黑色Ta掺杂的正交晶ZrO ₂比其白色对应物更耐蠕变，并且前者像更常规的Y ₂ O ₃稳定的ZrO ₂一样变形。