In the present work, the role of silica as sintering aids in the densification and the grain growth of yttrium aluminum garnet doped by neodymium (Nd:YAG) ceramics has been investigated. The samples were prepared by ball milling of pure oxides (Al2O3, Y2O3, Nd2O3, SiO2), shaped by cold uniaxial pressing, and sintered in vacuum between 1473 and 1973 K. After cooling, the specimens were annealed under air or vacuum. Their microstructure and the chemical composition of the secondary phases were examined using electron probe microanalysis, scanning electron microscopy, or transmission electron microscopy techniques. From these results, silica addition proved to be efficient on the densification kinetics between 1673 and 1873 K, especially when SiO2 content exceeds 0.05 wt%. Indeed, the solid‐state reaction between SiO2 and Nd:YAG particles in the vicinity of 1660 K leads to a liquid phase that adopts a eutectic composition in the Al2O3–Y2O3–SiO2 system. This phase enhances the densification by improving rearrangement of particles and mass transport at the grain boundaries. At a high temperature, liquid phase and silica were partially removed and some intergranular and intragranular inclusions of residual silica remained after cooling. The most promising thermal treatment consists of sintering Nd:YAG ceramics under vacuum at a high temperature (T≥1973 K) to reach fully dense pieces and to decrease the volume fraction of secondary phases (i.e., liquid phase or silica‐based phases). Finally, these conditions would allow to produce transparent YAG pieces due to their good homogeneity with regard to their microstructural properties (grain size, volume fraction of secondary phases).

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Nd:YAG ceramics for laser applications were elaborated with various residual porosities by reaction-sintering process. The porosity analysis with CLSM and SEM led to the determination of the pore volume fraction after sintering. This study revealed that the mean pore size of Nd:YAG ceramics was around 0.7 microm while the residual porosity was ranging between 10(-1)% and 10(-4)%. These pore contents affect the transparency and laser efficiency of ceramics. The analytical model based on the Mie light scattering fairly fits the experimental data. This demonstrates that the porosity in Nd:YAG ceramics should be lower than 10(-4)% to reach single-crystal laser efficiency.

International audienceControlling residual amount of defects in transparent ceramics is a major challenge for laser applications. This study was focused on microstructural evolution of Nd:YAG ceramics during their reactive solid-state sintering which was correlated to their optical transmittance. From microstructural observations, the microstructural maps and grain size-density and grain size-pore size sintering trajectories of Nd:YAG ceramics were established as a function of silica content. For densities higher than 99.7%, the occurrence of intragranular porosity was correlated to a critical pore radius of 0.16m. Silica appears to favor the formation of intragranular porosity which was attributed to the increasing of the grain growth rate compared with the densification one. An analytical model was established by coupling the analytical laws derived from sintering trajectories and the classical theory of light diffusion, allowing to correlate the microstructural features of transparent Nd:YAG ceramics to their optical properties