Microstructural Characterization of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Sintered at Different Temperatures Using 3D EBSD, 2D EBSD and Stereological Calculations

A set of yttria-stabilized zirconia samples sintered at increasing temperatures was investigated using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) techniques to calculate grain size distributions and grain boundary densities. The obtained results were compared to the results of stereological calculations and revealed that mean intercept length, a commonly used stereological parameter, is ca. 20% lower than an average grain diameter derived from 2D and 3D EBSD data. Moreover, the results based on 2D and 3D EBSD analyses were similar to each other in grain boundary density, while the values obtained from the stereological approach were noticeably lower.