Abstract
Transparent yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) ceramics are mostly sintered under vacuum to favor pore closure. However, this may conceal the origin of microstructural defects, complicating process optimization. We describe a useful approach to understand the origin of defects in transparent YAG ceramics: reactive sintering was performed in air at a moderate temperature for a short time. The resulting microstructure allowed to understand the origin of defects in corresponding vacuum-sintered specimens. The porosity of air sintered samples could be related to the presence of aggregates of starting oxide particles, which eventually under vacuum react to form YAG, but leave behind pores.
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The authors declare that datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the Italian Ministry of Defence under PNRM Contract No. 8731 of 04/12/2019 (CeMiLAP2).
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Picelli, F., Biasini, V., Hostaša, J. et al. A useful approach to understand the origin of defects in transparent YAG ceramics. MRS Communications 12, 807–812 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-022-00240-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-022-00240-2