Novel Microstructures Produced by Flash Sintering LaPO₄/Al₂O₃Composites

The material system LaPO 4 /Al 2 O 3 has promise as a high fracture toughness material because it resists crack propagation by interfacial debonding, as demonstrated by Al 2 O 3 fibers when coated by LaPO 4 [1] . Sintering Al 2 O 3 and LaPO 4 typically requires a furnace temperature of over 1600C for hours. A faster and more economical method to lower energy consumption and manufacturing cost is flash sintering [2] . Flash sintering applies an electric field and controls current flowing through a freestanding pressed powder sample, lowering the temperature and shortening time to sinter to seconds or minutes, providing an economical route to fabricate ceramics. Moreover, rapid heating to high temperatures during the flash and fast cooling can provide unique non-equilibrium microstructures and compositions [3] .