ZHOU Wenbo ¹ , ZHANG Youfeng ¹ , LI Wanguo ¹ , SUN Shiju ¹ , YAN Zihao ¹ , KONG Haijuan ¹ ,CHEN Xuefeng ²
(1. College of Material Engineering, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, China; 2. Key Lab of Inorganic
Functional Materials and Devices, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China)

Abstract: LiTaO₃ ceramics were prepared by pressureless sintering at different temperatures. The investigation of the LiTaO₃ ceramics by shrinkage test, SEM morphology observation and microhardness analysis shows that there are pores and defects in ceramics sintered at 1100-1350 °C for 2 h. Shrinkage and a little pore exist in LiTaO₃ ceramics sintered at 1200 °C. The maximum microhardness is 118 HV when the sintering temperature of LiTaO₃ ceramics is 1200 °C. Densification of pure LiTaO₃ ceramics cannot be obtained by the sintering method.

Key words: pressureless sintering; LiTaO₃ ceramics; microstructure; hardness.