Currently available IR transparent materials typically exhibit a trade-off between optical performance and mechanical strength. For instance, sapphire domes are very strong, but lack full transparency throughout the 3-5 micron mid-wave IR band. Yttria is fully transparent from 3-5 microns, but lacks sufficient strength, hardness, and thermal shock resistance for the most demanding aero-thermal applications. Missile system designers must limit system performance in order to accommodate the shortcomings of available window and dome materials. Recent work in the area of nanocomposite ceramics may produce new materials that exhibit both excellent optical transparency and high strength, opening the door to improved missile performance. The requirements for optical nanocomposite ceramics will be presented and recent work in producing such materials will be discussed.
Commerically available yttrium oxide nanopowders were evaluated as starting materials for preparation of transparent materials. The objective is an yttria optical ceramic exhibiting approximately one micrometer grain size to provide increased strength and thermal shock resistance. Three vendors were selected to provide nanoscale powders for testing and evaluation. They were compared to a conventional (5 μm) powder previously used to prepare optical quality ceramic yttria. While all of the selected nanopowders had impurity levels that were too high to allow processing to full transparency, two of the samples were processed to full density and moderate transparency was produced in one. In preparation for processing via Hot Isostatic Press (HIP) samples were sintered to a closed pore state at temperatures as low as 1400 °C, and with soak times as short as 12 minutes at 1550 °C. The use of ultrasonic attenuation as a technique for measuring particle size distributions in slurries was explored and found to be an invaluable tool when colloidally processing nanopowders. Finally, the areas most important for continued improvements were identified.
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