Ultra-fast densification of highly transparent Y2O3 ceramic with La2O3 as sintering aid by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

Highly transparent Y2O3 ceramics were produced using spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1600 degrees C and 30 MPa for 5 min. When the SPS process was applied with various amounts of La2O3 as dopant. The specimen doped with 3 mol% La2O3 showed the highest density, and rapid particle growth and pore growth occurred, exhibiting that the relative density and average grain size are 99.2% and 17.2 mu m, respectively. The specimen showed excellent transmittance of 79.44% in the visible light region (600 nm), resulting that La2O3 would be a useful dopant for improving the transmittance and mechanical properties of transparent Y2O3 ceramics produced with SPS.