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frekin
28
Dec 6, 2017
This looks like a standard black yttria-stabilized zirconia with laser etching to create the damascus pattern. It may be an ATZ grade (alumina-toughened zirconia), given the claims of extra hardness.
HIP (hot isostatic pressing) is just an additional step where the already sintered ceramic is reheated to a high temperature under an applied high pressure to squeeze out internal defects such as voids (common defect from powder pressing). This increases strength substantially. HIP makes it much more resistant to accidental chipping and fracture, but I don't think it increases hardness substantially.
The literature claims this is Z206, probably a grade with a really fine zirconia particle size; Kyocera does not offer material specs for this grade. It's probably closest to the Z701N in terms of properties. I have sanded these types of zirconias in the past using carbide sandpaper, but it takes a lot of work to remove material. If you look at their technical ceramic specs, you can see that high purity aluminum oxide, carbides, and of course diamond are all harder than zirconia.
Kyocera offers an automatic diamond knife sharpener on their site...not sure how good it is. I think that the issue here is that the edge develops microscopic chips and wear over time and does not form a burr during sharpening. You basically have to form a perfect bevel and finish with really fine diamond to ensure a good edge.

Compression molded knife blank, followed by HIP in a graphite crucible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5QgygaKF-Q
Kyocera motorized sharpener at bottom: https://kyoceraadvancedceramics.com/ceramic-knives/kyotop-series-ceramic-knives
Technical ceramic specs: https://global.kyocera.com/prdct/fc/product/pdf/material.pdf
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