New double-sintering aid for fabrication of highly transparent ytterbium-doped yttria ceramics

Achieving fabrication of highly transparent Y2O3 ceramics via air pre‐sintering by deionization treatment of suspension

“…Moreover, in many recent studies, it has been found that to achieve nearly theoretical density and fine grain size leading to Y 2 O 3 transparent ceramics with improved mechanical properties, sintering additives are indispensably required. The additives adopted include ZrO 2 , 14,18‐25 La 2 O 3 , 26,27 MgO, 28 TiO 2 , 29 Al 2 O 3 , 30,31 and their combinations, 28,32 among which ZrO 2 is the most frequently used because it effectively promotes densification and inhibits grain growth. The doping of Zr 4+ can effectively restrain the grain growth of Y 2 O 3 by decreasing the grain boundary mobility, leading to Y 2 O 3 ceramics with fine microstructure and improved in‐line transmittance 33 .…”

“…Liu et al 17 found that the thermal conductivity of non‐doped fine grain Y 2 O 3 ceramic is approximately 12.72 W/m/K at room temperature, which is significantly higher than that of ZrO 2 ‐doped samples (7.02 W/m/K). Furthermore, when using ZrO 2 as the single additive, the laser performance of Y 2 O 3 ceramics was adversely affected due to the charge imbalance between Zr 4+ and Y 3+ 28 . Recently, Wang et al 35 reported a laser‐induced photodarkening phenomenon in ZrO 2 ‐doped Yb:Y 2 O 3 ceramics after irradiation with a 940‐nm laser diode, whereas the phenomenon was not observed in ceramics without a ZrO 2 additive.…”

“…Furthermore, when using ZrO 2 as the single additive, the laser performance of Y 2 O 3 ceramics was adversely affected due to the charge imbalance between Zr 4+ and Y 3+ . 28 Recently, Wang et al 35 reported a laser-induced photodarkening phenomenon in ZrO 2 -doped Yb:Y 2 O 3 ceramics after irradiation with a 940-nm laser diode, whereas the phenomenon was not observed in ceramics without a ZrO 2 additive. The possible reason is the formation of Zr 3+ color centers.…”

High transparency Cr,Nd:LuAG ceramics prepared with MgO additive

“…In laser ceramic fabrication, sintering additives are needed to obtain ceramics with high density and high transparency [17]. Many types of sintering additives have been used to fabricate transparent ceramics using the vacuum sintering method [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”