The field-activated sintering technique (FAST) was applied to simultaneously sinter and react sol-gel amorphous powders to form Al 2 TiO 5 . Densities close to theoretical and conversion to Al 2 TiO 5 (to 92.5%) have been achieved using FAST at 1050°-1200°C for 10 min. Conventional sintering of the same powders at 1300°C for 2 h resulted in 88.9% Al 2 TiO 5 and ϳ75% of theoretical density. The enhanced sintering and compound formation using FAST have been explained by the synergistic effects of precursor reactivity, nanosized powders, and electric-field effects.

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