The The influence of sintering additives on the microstructure and functional properties of complex scintillation ceramics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54708/26587572_2026_832633Keywords:
ceramic, garnet, microstructure, sintering additives, luminescence, scintillationAbstract
Scintillation ceramics based on the compound (Gd,Y)3(Al,Ga)5O12:Ce (GYAGG:Ce) with garnet structure were obtained using various sintering additives (B2O3, SiO2, ZrO2) in various sintering modes. Their microstructure, optical, and functional properties were studied. It was shown that the addition of additives primarily affects the microstructural features of the ceramics and, accordingly, its optical properties, in some cases slightly affecting their functional properties or not affecting them at all. Thus, sintering in an oxygen atmosphere at 1700 °C with the addition of 0.01 wt.% B2O3 or SiO2 as sintering additives makes it possible to reduce the residual porosity in the ceramic structure to less than 0.01 vol.%, which in turn increases the optical transparency to 60%. Moreover, the addition of a SiO2-based additive results in a significant increase in scintillation light yield from 35 to 45 photons/keV and a slowing of luminescence decay kinetics from 57 to 74 ns. This suggests the potential for using sintering additives as an effective method for improving the microstructure uniformity and enhancing the optical transparency of ceramics based on complex GYAGG oxide compounds, which is crucial for a number of applications, particularly as scintillation elements in detectors used in security screening equipment and medical X-ray scanners.References
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