Fabrication of bulk Al2O3 by combustion synthesis melt-casting under ultra-high gravity

A simple way of processing bulk Al2O3 was studied by integrating the combustion synthesis technique with the ultra-high gravity technique. The combustion reaction was conducted under the centrifugal force, the produced superheating melt mixtures consisting of both molten metal (Ni), molten ceramic (Al2O3) and pores could be separated by virtue of their density difference. Pure phase of alpha-Al2O3 was prepared successfully at the gravitational acceleration magnitude over 200. The relative density of the alpha-Al2O3 obtained at the gravitational acceleration magnitude of 800 increased to 3.70g/cm(3), the bulk alpha-Al2O3 with well developed (1 1 0) and (2 1 1) texture was explored in terms of crystallography analysis. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.