The microstructure and mechanical properties of ZrO2/Ni functionally graded materials (FGMs) fabricated by powder metallurgy technique were investigated experimentally. The relative density of non-graded composite and functionally graded materials (FGM) was also measured. Microscopic examination exhibits that the material composition and microstructure of the FGMs vary gradually. The distributions of mechanical properties in the FGMs are obtained from the mechanical testing of homogeneous composite samples with different volume fractions of Ni. The results show that the elastic modulus and the bending strength decreases with increasing the nickel content from 0 to 50 % Ni, this is mainly affected by the weakly bonded ceramic/metal interface. Also, it was found that the fracture toughness and the elastic modulus in the FGMs are higher than that of the all non-graded composite.