Lamination and sintering behavior of tape cast, transparent Mg-Al-spinel ceramics

High purity Mg-Al-spinel powders were processed to form slurries for tape casting. The dried green tapes were cut and laminated via thermo-compression under uniaxial and isostatic pressure conditions. Finally the laminates were sintered pressurelessly in air. The influence of the transformation temperature of the green tape׳s binder-plasticizer system and of lamination parameters on density and microstructure of the sintered laminates was analyzed. UV‐VIS transmission spectroscopy was performed to measure the transparency of the fired laminates. The interrelation between the lamination parameters, sintering behavior and properties of the sintered product is discussed. Isostatic thermal lamination resulted in higher sintered densities than uniaxial lamination. For both techniques an increase in lamination pressure or temperature led to higher relative densities after sintering. The laminates exhibited total forward transmission values of up to 67% at a wavelength of 700 nm.