Effect of heat treatment on crystallization of Nd:YAG ceramics

Abstract

(Nd_0.01Y_0.99)₃Al₅O₁₂ nano-sized powders were synthesized by low temperature combustion (LCS), using Nd₂O₃, Y₂O₃, Al(NO₃)₃·9H₂O, ammonia water and citric acid as starting materials. The powders were characterized by TG-DTA, XRD, FT-IR, ICP and TEM, respectively. The grain sizes were calculated by the Scherrer’s formula using the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of YAG (420) crystal plane diffraction lines. The study focused on crystallization of ceramics at different heat treatment temperatures. The experimental results show that crystallizing temperature of YAG is 850 °C, and the intermediate crystal phase YAP, appearing during heat treatment, transforms to YAG cubic crystal phase at the temperature of 1 050 °C. The particle size of the powders synthesized by LCS is nano-sized. With the temperature increasing, the mean grain sizes raise, the stand deviations keep almost at the value of 2.0 and the lattice parameters decrease. The grains mainly grow by grain boundary diffusion. The lattice parameter expansion is caused by an increase of the repulsive dipolar interactions on surfaces of crystallites.

Keywords

laser ceramics / neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) / nano-sized powders / low temperature combustion synthesis (LCS)

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