Application of Laser AE Technique to Monitoring of Sintering in Structural Ceramics.

Conventional acoustic emission (AE) method has a limitation of measurement at elevated temperature because of the use of piezoelectric element. We have investigated the noncontact method to measure AE signal using laser interferometer. Cracking in firing of structural ceramics is a serious problem for fabrication. Crack initiation is strongly affected by shape, density, particle size and firing pattern. It is important to investigate when cracks occur for optimization of firing condition. In this study, we tried to monitor firing process of ceramic by noncontact AE technique. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]