Fabrication of translucent alumina ceramics from pre-sintered bodies infiltrated with sintering additive precursor solutions

Translucent alumina ceramics were fabricated by infiltrating aqueous solutions containing sintering dopant ions (Mg2+/Y3+/La3+) into pre-sintered alumina compacts and sintering in H2 atmosphere. The improved microstructural homogeneity, finer grain size and enhanced transmission properties of infiltration processed samples over those processed by conventional ball-milling method were corroborated by experimental results. Triple doping via infiltration appears to be significantly beneficial for achieving enhanced transmission (36.3% at wavelength 800 nm for sample thickness of 0.75 mm). This study indicates that infiltration technique can be used to fabricate translucent alumina ceramics with improved performance.