[en] This work presents the development and the characterization of Ce O₂-stabilized tetragonal Zr O₂ polycrystals (Ce-TZP ceramics), since it is considered candidate material for applications as structural high performance ceramics, an as substitute of some metallic materials. Ce-TZP ceramics attain remarkable increasing in strength and fracture toughness. Sintered ceramics were fabricated from mixtures of powders containing different Ce O₂ content prepared by conventional mechanical technique. It were adopted the bending strength, Vickers hardness and fracture toughness techniques to the determination of the mechanical parameters. These results were discussed and compared to those published in international literature. (author)