Development of translucent oxyapatite ceramics by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

The pure Sr2Y8(SiO4)6O 2 oxyapatite powder materials have been ball milled and spark-plasma sintered. The microstructures and transmittances in the completely and incompletely densified ceramics were investigated. The ceramic sintered at 1500°C is translucent with 0.7% porosity and its total forward light transmittance can reach about 52% in the infrared region. The transmittance was interpreted based on the microstructures of the ceramic samples and the Mie scattering theory. © 2010 The American Ceramic Society.