Transparent ZnAl₂O₄ ceramics fabricated by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

Highly transparent zinc aluminate ceramics were fabricated by the solid-state reaction using a spark plasma sintering machine. The sintered body exhibited a microstructure consisting of submicron-sized grains and extremely low porosities. Annealing of the sintered body in air improved the transmission close to the theoretical limit in a wavelength range of 1–5 µm. The band gap energy estimated from the absorption coefficient was 4.3 eV. The Young’s modulus and the bulk modulus measured for the fully dense zinc aluminates were 282 and 211 GPa, respectively.