The influence of grain size and density of yttria-tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (Y-TZPs) ceramics on mechanical properties and on low-temperature aging degradation (LTD) in air and in hot water was investigated. A TZP powder containing 3 mol% Y2O3 was consolidated by slip casting and densified by the sintering/hot isostatic pressing (HIP) method. Only the presintered samples that contained less than 0.15% open porosity reached near full density after HIP. The best conditions to reach full density were found to be attained by presintering and HIP both at 1400 °C. At these conditions, some of the best mechanical properties such as modulus of rupture and Weibull modulus reached 1397 ± 153 MPa and, 10.6, respectively. These values were clearly higher than those obtained from sintered bodies and samples hot isostatically pressed at 1600 °C. Aging degradation of 3Y-TZP materials can be avoided through microstructural design. Fully dense materials with a critical grain size <0.36 μm did not show any evidence of degradation after extreme aging conditions at pressurized autoclaving in hot water at 100, 200, and 260 °C for 8 h. We propose a criterion to predict degradation in air as well as in hot water for the characterized materials based on the microstructure and density control of the samples.

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Transparent BaTiO3:Eu3+ films were prepared via a sol-gel method and dip-coating technique, using barium acetate, titanium butoxide, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as modifier viscosity. BaTiO3:Eu3+ films ~500 nm thick, crystallized after thermal treatment at 700 ºC. The powders revealed spherical and rod shape morphology. The optical quality of films showed a predominant band at 615 nm under 250 nm excitation. A preliminary luminescent test provided the properties of the Eu3+ doped BaTiO3.

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