Study on the agglomeration of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) nano-powder by co-precipitation method

Precursors of yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) were synthesized by a co-precipitation method from a mixed solution of NH4Al(SO4)(2) and Y(NO3)(3), with NH3 (.) H2O and NH4HCO3 as precipitants, respectively. The effects of the two kinds of precipitants were discussed by charactering the constitutes and the structures of the YAG precursors. The morphology, size and agglomeration of the resultant YAG powders were demonstrated by studying the reaction process of YAG phase formation during heat-treating. It's suggested that resultant YAG powder is seriously agglomerated upon using ammonia as precipitant. However, well-dispersed and small-sized YAG nano-powder was gained upon using NH4HCO3 as precipitant, although the synthesized precursor is agglomerated to a certain extent.