Ultra-fast high-temperature sintering of transparent MgAl2O4

The ultra-fast high-temperature sintering (UHS) is a straightforward approach to produce small size (i.e., diameter below 10 mm) transparent MgAl2O4 spinel parts. The highly sinter active raw-material selected, based on nano spheroidal particles with a green body having a narrow pore size distribution, was particularly suitable for the ultrafast densification within 80 s at ≈2200 °C. The resulting 0.5 mm thick pellets resulted in an inline transmittance of T ∼60% (wavelength = 1.1 μm) and a Vickers hardness of 13.2 GPa.