Sintering of new oxide ceramics using a high power cw CO2 laser

The sintering of ceramic oxide powders has been investigated using a high power CO2 laser as the heat source. The laser sintering method is very useful for the densification of oxides such as ZrO2, HfO2, and Y2O3 which have high melting points above 2000 °C. The new ceramic in the ternary system of (ZrO2‐Y2O3‐HfO2) processed by the laser method has a high melting point (2850 °C) and a hardness of about 1800 kg/mm2. The new oxide ceramic is composed of the crystalline phase of tetragonal ZrO2 and ZrO2 HfO2 Y2O3 solid solution, and does not show any phase transitions at high temperatures.