Sintering of high-density, high-purity alumina ceramics

In the present article the assumption has been made that the density of ceramics can be controlled to a significant extent by the size distribution function of the powder particles. This assumption has been verified for a series of specimens which were obtained by mixing three alumina powders of different mean sizes and diversity in the size of powder particles. A computer program has been developed which helps to select an optimum mixture of the powders assuring a high density of the sintered ceramic. Samples could be sintered at 1500 degrees C to a relative density 99.5% and an average grain size of 0.55-0.69 mu m. This proves that particle size distribution (p.s.d.) effect on the density of alumina can be utilized in practice of high-density, high-purity ceramics. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Limited.