在制备透明陶瓷时, 广泛采用烧结助剂来提升陶瓷的光学质量。但烧结助剂的添加可能会恶化陶瓷的发光性能。本研究采用真空预烧结合热等静压烧结制备了0.25at%Pr:LuAG闪烁陶瓷, 研究了微量SiO₂烧结助剂对陶瓷光学及闪烁性能的影响。结果表明, 添加少于200 ppm的微量SiO₂(1 ppm表示添加量为1×10^-6 g/g)能有效促进热等静压过程中气孔的排出, 有效提升了Pr:LuAG陶瓷的光学性能。150 ppm SiO₂添加的Pr:LuAG陶瓷在400 nm处的直线透过率约为77%。同时研究了预烧温度及时间对Pr:LuAG陶瓷光学性能的影响。在实现完全闭气孔结构时, 进一步升高预烧温度或延长保温时间会降低热等静压过程中的致密化速率, 不利于气孔的排出, 从而降低了Pr:LuAG陶瓷的光学质量。此外, 添加微量SiO₂对Pr:LuAG陶瓷闪烁性能的影响较小。添加微量SiO₂结合热等静压烧结是制备Pr掺杂石榴石闪烁陶瓷的有效途径。

Sintering aids are widely used to improve the optical quality of ceramics in the preparation of transparent ceramics. However, sintering aids may deteriorate the luminescent properties of the ceramics. In this work, 0.25at%Pr:LuAG scintillation ceramics were prepared by vacuum pre-sintering combined with hot isostatic pressing. The influences of trace SiO₂ sintering aid on the optical and scintillation properties of the ceramics were studied. The results show that a small amount of SiO₂ below 200 ppm (1 ppm means that addition content is 1×10^-6 g/g) can effectively promote the remove of pore during hot isostatic pressing and improve the optical quality of the Pr:LuAG ceramics. Their in-line transmittance with 150 ppm SiO₂ is about 77% at 400 nm. The effects of pre-sintering temperature and holding time on the optical properties of Pr:LuAG ceramics were also investigated. When completely closed pore structure is formed, further increasing the pre-sintering temperature or prolonging the holding time reduce the densification rate in the hot isostatic pressing process, which is not conducive to the remove of pores and lower the optical quality of the Pr:LuAG ceramics. In addition, trace SiO₂ addition has less effect on scintillation properties of the Pr:LuAG ceramics. Adding trace SiO₂ sintering aid combined with hot isostatic pressing is an effective way to prepare Pr doped garnet scintillation ceramics.