Reaction Sintering of Transparent Aluminum Oxynitride (AlON) Ceramics Using MgO and Y2O3 as Co-Additives

Transparent aluminum oxynitride (AlON) ceramics have been prepared through a method based on direct reaction sintering of alumina and aluminum nitride powders using MgO and Y2O3 as co-additives. The sintering additives could cause the formation of liquid phase during sintering, which would greatly promote the densification and eliminate pores. The grain size of AlON is about 50-100μm. The influence of different component of Al2O3 and AlN as well as sintering temperature on microstructure and optical properties of AlON have been studied. High transparent AlON ceramics with the in-line transmittance of 80.3% at 2000 nm wavelength have been prepared when the concentration of sintering additives was 0.16wt% Y2O3 and 0.02wt% MgO.