Laser direct deposited transparent magnesium aluminate spinel ceramics

This paper investigates the use of Laser Direct Deposition to fabricate transparent magnesium aluminate spinel (MAS) ceramics. Dense MAS ceramic samples are created from a homogeneous mixture of alumina and magnesia precursors without a need of lengthy pre-processing procedures normally required by traditional sintering techniques. The printed samples are verified to be a single MAS phase through X-ray diffraction peak analysis. Cracking and residual porosity are the key issues affecting the optical/infrared transmission of the printed parts. With optimized processing conditions, the parts shift from being translucent to transparent, indicating the potential of the proposed method in direct printing transparent ceramic parts. (C) 2020 Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.