A high-temperature furnace for X-ray diffraction with directly machined alpha-Al2O3 ceramic parts

A complex high-temperature furnace has been produced from presintered alpha -Al2O3 precompacts. The furnace is designed for the Mar345 imaging-plate de tector system. Up to now, the design complexity of ceramic parts has been l imited by the difficulty of machining hard ceramic materials or by the moul ds used in hot-pressing and casting. However, the machining of soft presint ered ceramic materials enables the realisation of much more demanding desig ns, provided that the final sintering shrinkage of the ceramic is homogeneo us and predictable. The design of the furnace and its realisation and appli cation in an X-ray diffraction study with synchrotron radiation are present ed.