Processing and characterization of additively manufactured 2 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia

• 2 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia was printed by vat photomolymerization • Increased fracture toughness was observed for 2YSZ compared to 3YSZ • Bending strength of sintered 2YSZ specimens up to 1 GPa were observed • Transformation bands are visible in 2YSZ during and after mechanical loading • Complex shaped parts can be fabricated successfully from 2YSZ 2 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (2YSZ) has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Its key characteristic is the lower degree of stabilization compared to 3 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ), which results in higher fracture toughness. In this study, 2YSZ and 3YSZ samples were fabricated using lithography-based ceramic manufacturing (LCM) and compared with respect to maximum printable wall thickness, microstructure, three-point bending strength (3PB), ball-on-three-balls biaxal strength (B3B), hardness, and fracture toughness. The 2YSZ samples exhibited higher bending strength in both 3PB and B3B tests, as well as higher fracture toughness (889 and 1004 MPa, and 7 MPa m 0.5 , respectively), compared with the 3YSZ material (754 and 969 MPa, and 4.2 MPa m 0.5 ). Microscopy and XRD analyses revealed that these enhanced properties are attributable to the higher phase transformability of 2YSZ. Overall, these results demonstrate that 2YSZ is a promising material for additive manufacturing, particularly for applications requiring high fracture resistance and complex geometries.