Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesis of α-SiAlON Doped by RE (RE=Eu,Pr,Ce) and Codoped by RE and Yttrium

Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) was applied to synthesize α-SiAlON powders doped by RE (RE = Eu,Pr,Ce) and codoped by RE and yttrium. The results showed that the weight ratio of α-SiAlON to (α-SiAlON +β-SiAlON) decreased from 70%, 55%, and 25% for europium-, praseodymium-, and cerium-doped α-SiAlON compositions, respectively, and the weight percentage of α-SiAlON phase increased to 100% for both (Eu,Y) and (Pr,Y) systems and 94% for the (Ce,Y) system, indicating SHS is a promising approach for synthesizing α-SiAlONs stabilized by the cations that could not be incorporated into the α-SiAlON structure by conventional sintering methods.