• Publisher-DOI

Dislocation‐tuned functionality in ceramic oxides for potential versatile applications gains increasing attention. As the widespread chemical doping suffers from poor temperature stability, dislocations in well‐controlled mesoscopic structure may be an alternative to thermally stable intrinsic doping features. To this end, the dislocation density in plastic zones introduced by cyclic Brinell indentation is considered under thermal annealing conditions. The considerably enhanced dislocation density due to thermal treatment is found to impact both microhardness and fracture toughness, albeit only to a modest degree. The mechanistic understanding centers around enhanced mobility and multiplication of the pre‐engineered dislocations at elevated temperatures driven by the residual indentation stress, as well as the strengthened interaction of point defects and dislocations at high temperature.