Sintering behaviour and properties of manganese-doped alumina

The effect of manganese (0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 wt%) on the sintering and mechanical properties of alumina was studied. Sintering was carried out by the conventional heating method in a box furnace and in a hybrid multimode microwave furnace. XRD analysis revealed the precipitation of a spinel second phase (MnAl2O4) in manganese-doped samples as a result of manganese limited solubility in the corundum lattice. The addition of 0.1 wt% manganese was...