Fabrication and properties of Y2O3 transparent ceramic by sintering aid combinations

Abstract Transparent Y 2 O 3 ceramics were fabricated by the solid-state reaction and vacuum sintering method using La 2 O 3 , ZrO 2 and Al 2 O 3 as sintering aids. The microstructure of the Y 2 O 3 ceramics sintered from 1550 °C to 1800 °C for 8 h were analyzed by SEM. The sintering process of the Y 2 O 3 transparent ceramics was optimized. The results showed that when the samples were sintered at 1800 °C for 8 h under vacuum, the average grain sizes of the ceramics were about 3.5 µm. Furthermore, the transmittance of Y 2 O 3 ceramic sintered at 1800 °C for 8 h was 82.1% at the wavelength around the 1100 nm (1 mm thickness), which was close to its theoretical value. Moreover, the refractive index of the Y 2 O 3 transparent ceramic in the temperature range from 30 °C to 400 °C were measured by the spectroscopic ellipsometry method.