Fabrication of transparent electrooptic PLZT ceramics by atmosphere sintering

PLZT electrooptic ceramics were fabricated by a unique atmosphere sintering technique. The ceramics produced were significantly more transparent than those obtained by ordinary O 2 sintering methods; in fact, they were comparable in transparency to those obtained by hot‐pressing. To achieve good transparency, the powder must be batched with excess PbO, which at the sintering temperature is present as a liquid phase at the grain boundaries. Sintering was conducted at 1200°C for 60 h in an atmosphere containing O 2 and a relatively high partial pressure of lead oxide.