Sintering and grain growth behaviour of magnesium aluminate spinel: Effect of lithium hydroxide addition

Lithium hydroxide, LiOH, in the amounts ranging from 0.1 to 1.2 wt% has been used as a sintering aid to improve the densification of MgAl₂O₄. The addition of 0.3 wt% LiOH promotes densification and limits grain growth. The activation energy of sintering, calculated using master sintering curve approach, decreases from 790 ± 20 kJ.mol^?1 to 510 ± 20 kJ.mol^?1 with the addition of 0.3 wt% of LiOH. In addition, MgAl₂O₄ was also mixed with 10 wt% of LiOH to amplify the formation of reaction products. High-temperature XRD results showed that secondary phases (MgO and LiAlO₂) are produced above 1040 °C. The secondary phases start to disappear at T > 1200 °C, and MgAl₂O₄ is produced. While adding small amounts of LiOH, up to ca. 0.3 wt%, is beneficial for densification and suppressing grain growth, there exists a critical concentration of Li⁺ that is accounted for by the preferential incorporation of lithium ions into MgAl₂O₄ crystal lattice.