Solid, transparent, non-vitreous, zirconia and zirconia-silica ceramic microspheres, useful as lens elements in retroreflective pavement markings. The microspheres are characterized by: (a) containing at least one additive metal oxide selected from alumina, magnesia, yttria and mixtures thereof; (b) an index of refraction greater than 1.6; and (c) being virtually free of cracks. These microspheres are formed by a sol-gel technique of extractive gelation of a sol in liquid medium such as hot peanut oil. |