Influence of La3+ ion in the yttria matrix in improving the microhardness of infrared transparent nano La x Y2-x O3 sintered via hybrid heating

Abstract

Abstract In the present work, hybrid sintering technique which couples the resistive heating and microwave heating is employed to sinter infrared transparent La0.15Y1.85O3 to 99.2% of the theoretical density for the first time to the best of our knowledge. The presence of La3+ in the yttria matrix improves the hardness properties to a greater extent without affecting the transmittance properties, but there is a deterioration in the thermal properties of the sample. So we have limited our studies to La0.15Y1.85O3 which shows better optical, thermal, and hardness properties. The pellets fabricated from the ultra-fine nano powder with average particle size of ~12 nm synthesized by combustion technique and sintered at 1430 °C with an average grain size of 0.22 μm show ~80.1% transmittance in the UV–visible region and 81% in mid infrared region. For a comparative study of the optical, mechanical, and thermal properties, two other variants of sintering strategies namely conventional sintering and microwave sintering are also employed. A comprehensive analysis on the hardness reveals that the hardness of the pellets sintered via hybrid heating is 9.73 GPa and is superior to the pellets sintered using the other two techniques. The thermal conductivity of the sample is also analyzed in detail. The results clearly indicate that the La0.15Y1.85O3 ultra-fine nano powder synthesised by the single-step combustion method and sintered via microwave hybrid heating shows better transmittance properties without compromising the mechanical properties, and can be used very effectively for the fabrication of infrared transparent windows and domes.

Keywords

• La3+ concentration
• microhardness
• hybrid sintering
• infrared transparent ceramics
• thermal conductivity