Fabrication and Effects of Different Average Grain Sizes on Thermal Conductivity of Nd:YAG Ceramics

Abstract

High quality, transparent 1.0at% Nd:YAG ceramics were fabricated successfully by a solid-state reaction and vacuum sintering, and the characteristics were also identified in different methods. The lowest transmittance is 44.85% and the highest is 71.98%. 9 samples were used for thermal diffusivity detecting using laser flash method. Thermal diffusivity decreases as temperature increases, and The diffusivity increases as average grain size grows. However, when average grain size is smaller than 8μm, the diffusivity decreases much faster. Mechanical advantages be ensured, the average grain size should be above 8μm.