Elastic properties of polycrystalline stabilized zirconias, namely Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) and Scandia, Ceria Stabilized Zirconia (SCSZ), were studied by Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA) in air. Changes of storage modulus E ', loss modulus E '' and mechanical damping (tan delta) with temperature were simultaneously monitored at various frequencies. In 8 mol% (8YSZ) and 10 mol% (10YSZ) Yttria Stabilized Zirconia, a drop in storage modulus of similar to 37% was observed in the 30 degrees C to 400 degrees C temperature range, together with two frequency dependent damping peaks. While the first tan delta peak can be attributed to the anelastic relaxation of (Y-Zr'V-O(center dot center dot))(center dot) elastic (and dielectric) dipoles, the second one is probably the result of local ordering of oxygen vacancies and/or relaxation of (2Y(Zr)' V-O(center dot center dot))(x) dipoles. For cubic SCSZ, four damping peaks were observed in the similar temperature regime accompanied by significant nonlinear drop of the storage modulus. The first tan delta is attributed to anealstic relaxation of (Sc-Zr' V-O(center dot center dot))(center dot). It was also found that stress induced phase transformation from cubic to rhombohedral structure is the reason for the frequency dependent third peak in the tan delta spectra while the fourth frequency independent peak was found to be the result of the phase transformation from rhombohedral to cubic structure. (C) 2014 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.