[en] Highlights: • There are three distinct phases in simulated 10 wt% ZrO₂-doped UO₂ fuels. • Spherical intergranular metallic precipitates uniformly distributed in simfuel. • Perovskite phases precipitated at simfuel matrix grain boundaries. • Lattice parameter of simfuel decreases slightly with increasing burnups. • Mechanical properties of simfuel decreases significantly with increasing burnups. - Abstract: To determine the mechanical properties varying with burnup, the simulated 10 wt% ZrO₂-doped UO₂ ceramic pellets with burnups ranging from 0 to 250 GW d/tU were prepared by pressureless sintering in a hydrogen reducing environment. Mechanical properties such as hardness, elastic modulus and fracture toughness, as well as microstructures of the simulated pellet samples with different burnups (0, 75, 150 and 250 GW d/tU, respectively) were characterized by Vickers micro-indentation technique, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and electron probe X-ray microanalysis, respectively. Results show that the relative densities of the simulated pellet pellets are between 93.5% and 95% and the measured elemental compositions are similar to the expected values. There are three distinct phases in the simulated 10 wt% ZrO₂-doped UO₂ fuel pellet samples, i.e., the matrix phase with the fluorite type structure, the oxide phase with perovskite type structure, and the metallic ε-phase. The lattice parameter of the simulated 10 wt% ZrO₂-doped UO₂ fuels gradually decreases with the increase of burnup. The hardness, elastic modulus and fracture toughness of simulated 10 wt% ZrO₂-doped UO₂ ceramic fuel pellets are significantly decreased by approximately 38.7%, 29.5% and 13.5% when the burnup increases from 0 to 250 GW d/tU, respectively.