Study of the influence of sintering additives and vacuum sintering conditions on optical properties of LuAG:Er (1 at.%) ceramics

Abstract

In this work, ceramic samples based on lutetium-aluminum garnet doped with erbium (content 1 at.%) were manufactured. In the manufacture of ceramic material, the chemical precipitation method was chosen. The influence of two types of sintering additives, MgO and CaO, on the microstructure and optical properties of ceramic samples obtained at vacuum sintering temperatures of 1800, 1850, 1875°C was studied. The article discusses in detail how the microstructure and optical transmission of ceramics with sintering additives MgO and CaO change at different vacuum sintering temperatures. It was found that magnesium oxide allows to achieve a higher optical transparency of ceramics (about 80%), while calcium oxide more effectively inhibits the grain growth. An increase in the sintering temperature for samples with MgO from 1800 to 1850°C contributed to an increase in the light transmission of samples from 10 to 80% and an increase in grain size from 1,80 to 3,03 microns. Earlier no such a phenomenon was not observed for samples with CaO, samples obtained at sintering temperatures of 1850 and 1875°C had approximately the same microstructure, containing some residual microporosity.