In this communication we present our first results on ultra-fast laser sintering of oxide ceramics employing a CO2 laser as the heating source. The Bi4Ti3O12 (BIT) and Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) compounds were synthesized following a solid state route in air atmosphere. Cylindrical ceramic bodies with 12 mm in diameter and 2 mm in thickness were shaped and sintered under laser irradiation. The X-ray diffraction of the calcined powders confirmed the presence of single phase in each of the investigated systems. The maximum laser power required to the sintering process showed to have a strong dependency on the strategy used for irradiation. The microstructure analysis of the samples, performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), revealed the high efficiency of the process. In some cases we could verify that the sintering occurred until a depth of 1mm, indicating the feasibility of obtaining the ceramic bodies sintered as a whole.
sintering; laser; microstructure
