It is well known that the heating mechanism and powder precursor define the microstructural characteristics of ceramics. Especially abnormal grain growth of pure alumina ceramics developed during conventional sintering method suggests that this material is a potential candidate to be treated in microwave sintering process. Alumina ceramics produced with commercial (A1K) and chemically synthesized powders were sintered in conventional and microwave furnaces. Two methods were employed to prepare the chemically synthesized nanosized powders: Pechini method and emulsification with oleic acid. The microwave sintered samples were characterized by apparent density and scanning electron microscopy and compared with the samples sintered in a conventional furnace. Alumina ceramics sintered in the microwave furnace had fine grained microstructure, not related with the starting powders. This characteristic was achieved in a sintering time shorter than those produced in the conventional furnace. However, satisfactory densification was observed only to A1K ceramics (3.95 g/cm³) sintered during one hour in microwave furnace.
synthesis; sintering; microwave; alumina
