Alumina–zirconia layered ceramics fabricated by stacking water processed green ceramic tapes

Lamination of stacked green ceramic tapes is one of the most attractive methods for the production of multilayer ceramics with strong interfaces. In this work the fabrication of high density layered ceramics by joining ceramic green tapes processed from aqueous ceramic slurries is described. Layers with different thickness and compositions in the alumina–zirconia system were combined to obtain layered ceramics with R-curve behaviour. The optimization of the sintering schedule to obtain crack free structures is described. The mechanical behaviour of the laminates, characterized by the indentation strength method, is discussed in terms of that of the constituent layers and the residual stresses developed.