Influences of Sintering Temperature and Pressure on Microstructure, Optical and Mechanical Properties of Hot-Pressing-Sintered Gd2O3–MgO Nanocomposites

Low temperature combined with high application pressure sintering technology is one of effective approaches to fabricate ceramics with fine microstructure. We reported that the Gd2O3–MgO nanocomposite ceramics were obtained by hot-pressing sintering using nanopowders derived from sol–gel combustion method in this paper. The high optical transmittance (80.1%–83.5%) over 2-6 μm and the high values for Vickers hardness (11.1 ± 0.3 GPa) and bending strength (192.6 ± 8.1 MPa) were obtained by hot-pressing sintering at low sintering temperature (1300 μC) and high application pressure (65 MPa).