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fractured surface of conventionally hot

pressed Spinel with LiF doping.

Surmet uses a different approach,

which includes solid-state pressureless

sintering followed by hot isostatic press-

ing (HIP). This method is not without

challenges, but the overall result is me-

chanically superior and more reliable

onmany counts than hot pressed Spinel

(Fig. 4). Pressureless sintering followed

by HIP is also used to produce ALON.

CURRENT AND

POTENTIAL USES

Both ALON and Spinel have enor-

mous potential in a broad range of

applications. However, ALON appears

to be at the forefront primarily due to

its robustness and superior properties

in addition to large-scale and reliable

manufacturability. Table 2 summarizes

some of the key properties and applica-

tions for ALON and Spinel although the

majority of the list is mainly applicable

to ALON.

COMMERCIALIZATION AND

FUTURE APPLICATIONS

Scaling up ALON manufacturing

from laboratory to production quantities

has required more than a decade of ded-

icated process development and tens of

millions of dollars. Work is now under-

way to bring down the cost so that these

materials can find a role in cost-sensitive

applications such as consumer products,

semiconductor equipment, and ener-

gy-related uses. ALON is now available

in large sizes (up to 18 × 35 in.) and large

quantities. Spinel remainsawork inprog-

ress. For its efforts, Surmet was recently

awarded the American Ceramic Society’s

Corporate Technical Achievement Award

in 2013. Surmet acknowledges funding

support from the U.S. Department of De-

fense in this effort.

~AM&P

For more information:

Mohan Rami-

setty is a materials engineer, Surmet

Corp., 31 B St., Burlington, MA 01803,

781.345.5742,

mramisetty@surmet.com

www.surmet.com

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Santosh

Jha, Lee Goldman, Uday Kashalikar, Mark

Smith, Cindy Gunda, and the entire Sur-

met team for their valuable contributions

and helpful discussions in preparing this

article.

References

1. M. Ramisetty, et al., Transparent

Polycrystalline Cubic Spinels Protect

and Defend,

Am. Ceram. Soc. Bull.

, Vol

92, 2, p 20-24, 2013.

2. D.C. Harris, Durable 3-5

m Trans-

mitting Infrared Window Materials,

In-

frared Phys. Technol.

, Vol 39, p 185–201,

1998.

3. L.M. Goldman, et al., ALON Optical

Ceramic Transparencies for Window,

Dome and Transparent Armor Applica-

tions, Proc. SPIE 8016, 801608, 2011.

4. M. Rubat du Merac, et al., Effect of Im-

purities and LiF Additive in Hot-Pressed

Transparent Magnesium Aluminate

Spinel,

Int. J. Appl. Ceram. Technol.

, Vol

10, E33–E48 (2012); doi: 10.1111/j.1744-

7402.2012.02828.x (2012).