Gelcasting and reactive sintering of sheet-like YAG transparent ceramics

摘要

A transparent yttrium alumina garnet (YAG) ceramic was successfully prepared by gelcasting a mixture of Al2O3 and Y2O3 powders aided by a reactive sintering process. A water-soluble epoxy resin gelling system was employed to fabricate large, sheet-like ceramic pieces. A stable slurry with 75 wt% solid loading and low viscosity was prepared. After casting, drying, and pre-sintering, vacuum sintering was performed at 1720 degrees C for 6 h. Homogeneous microstructures of both pre-sintered and sintered bodies were obtained. The resulting YAG ceramic (60 x 50 x 0.5 mm(3)) with an average grain size of 10 mm had an in-line transmittance of 83.0% and 80.7% at the wavelength of 1064 nm and 400 nm, respectively. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.