Comparison of Spark Plasma Sintering and Hot Pressing of MgAlON

MgAlON ceramics were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and hot pressing (HP), respectively. It was found that SPSed MgAlON samples had a single MgAlON phase with almost no open pore while HPed MgAlON had a minor AlN phase. The strength of SPSed samples is higher than 500MP, being much higher than that of the HPed samples. The experimental results revealed that that SPS was a rapid and reliable process for the further development of MgAlON.