To study the mechanical properties at high temperature of pre-stressed ceramics which were prepared by using higher expansion coefficient materials as coating and lower expansion coefficient materials as substrate, zirconia and alumina were chosen as the coating and the substrate, respectively, to fabricate ZrO₂-Al₂O₃ (marked as ZcAs) pre-stressed ceramics with sandwich structure. Meanwhile, Al₂O₃-ZrO₂ pre-stressed ceramics (marked as AcZs, which has the similar section ratio between substrate and coating to ZcAs), ZrO₂ ceramics and Al₂O₃ ceramics were set as the reference samples. Combining the results of bending strength at different temperatures with the results of Vickers indentation, the existence form of residual stress and its influence on crack propagation behavior were clarified as well as the temperature dependence of residual stress. Results show that the residual tensile stress exists in the surface layer of ZcAs, while the compressive stress exists in the substrate. On the contrary, the compressive stress exists in the surface layer of AcZs and tensile stress exists in the substrate. Due to tensile stress promoting while compressive stress inhibiting crack growth, flexural strength of ZcAs is 13.2% lower than that of Al₂O₃, and AcZs possesses strength 25.0% higher than that of ZrO₂ at room temperature. In addition, both tensile stress and compressive stress are decreased with the increase of temperature, which is mainly attributed to the relaxation of pre-stress caused by high temperature.