Wear resistant ceramic materials are widely used in the fields of grinding and polishing materials, wear-resistant coatings, pipeline or equipment linings, structural components, etc. Their wear resistance directly determines the safe service life of mechanical equipment and parts. Common wear-resistant ceramic materials include zirconia, alumina, cubic boron nitride, silicon nitride, boron carbide, silicon carbide, etc. In order to obtain wear-resistant ceramic materials with better wear resistance, many scholars have studied the wear mechanism of ceramic materials and the factors affecting their wear resistance performance. Generally speaking, the wear resistance of ceramics is influenced by two factors: the structure of the material itself, and external factors such as load, temperature, and atmosphere.

1. The influence of mechanical properties on the wear resistance of ceramics. In early research on the wear resistance of ceramic materials, it was believed that the hardness of ceramic materials is closely related to their wear resistance. Later, it was found that the relationship between the hardness and wear of ceramics was not so obvious. For example, the hardness of alumina ceramics is higher than that of zirconia ceramics, but the wear resistance may not necessarily be higher than that of zirconia ceramics. Although hardness can to some extent reflect the bonding strength of grain boundaries, wear is ultimately formed due to the detachment of the material from the wear surface. Therefore, the hardness of ceramic materials is no longer a predictive indicator for measuring wear. Research has shown that as the fracture toughness and hardness of materials increase, the wear rate of ceramics gradually decreases and their wear resistance improves.

2. The influence of microstructure on the wear resistance of ceramics is generally speaking, and the microstructure of materials often has a significant impact on their macroscopic properties. Ceramic materials are sintered bodies composed of grains and intergranular phases, and their microstructure often determines their macroscopic properties. Many studies have shown that the wear resistance of ceramic materials is closely related to the microstructure such as grain size, grain boundary phase composition, grain boundary stress distribution, and pores.

3. In industry, metal materials can improve their mechanical properties by refining the grain size, which is called fine-grained strengthening. The main principle is that the smaller the grain size, the larger the grain boundary area, and the more serrated the grain boundary distribution, which can effectively increase the crack propagation path and facilitate the dispersion of stress concentration in the material. It was found that grain refinement has a certain impact on the wear resistance of ceramic materials.

4. The porosity has a significant impact on the performance of ceramics. Pores are equivalent to the presence of defects, which can cause stress concentration, accelerate crack propagation, reduce the bonding strength between grains, and seriously affect the mechanical properties of ceramics. Under friction, pores may connect with each other to form crack sources, accelerating material wear.

5. Grain boundary phase and intergranular impurity ceramics are composed of grains, grain boundary phase, and pores. During the sintering process, some additives and impurities added to ceramics mainly exist at grain boundaries in the form of "second phase" or "glass phase", and their presence can affect the bonding strength between grains. During the friction and wear process of ceramics, cracks are easily generated at grain boundaries. The low bonding strength of grain boundaries can cause fracture along the grain during wear, leading to the entire grain being pulled out and causing severe wear. Additives for polycrystalline ceramics typically exist at grain boundaries in the form of glass phases. During the friction process, the high temperature generated reduces the viscosity of the glass, leading to plastic deformation. If the stress at adjacent grain boundaries is not appropriate, cracks will occur at the grain boundaries, causing severe wear. If an appropriate amount of additives can form a second phase at grain boundaries, it is usually beneficial for the wear resistance of the material. For example, adding zirconia to alumina to make zirconia toughened alumina ceramics, also known as ZTA ceramics. Due to the increase of critical stress induced by T-ZrO2 stress, it is beneficial to improve the fracture toughness and strength of ceramic materials. Zirconia and alumina can inhibit grain growth, achieve microcrystalline effect on the microstructure, and further improve wear resistance.