Property of MgO with different sintering temperatures under high pressures

We investigated the property changes of MgO powders sintered at temperatures ranging from 700°C to 1900°C for 5minutes at a pressure of 2.7 GPa for a high-pressure high-temperature(HPHT) diamond synthesis process. The physical properties of the sintered MgO powders were characterized by optical microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Vickers hardness tests, and by the apparent density, and X-ray diffractometry. An optical micro-analysis showed that white MgO powders became black after sintering due to carbon contamination from the graphite heat source. FE-SEM revealed the growth in the grain size of the MgO powders from 0.3 μm to 50 μm after sintering at 1700°C. The hardness and apparent density increased to 1800°C while the samples were dedensified at 1900°C due to the growth of isolated pores. According to the XRD analysis, no phase transformation occurred in the MgO powders. These results suggest that HPHT-sintered MgO powders can show an accelerated sintering process characterized by grain neck growth, pore connections, isolated pore growth and dedensification in 5 minutes, while these processes with the conventional sintering process take at least 5 hours.