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

A complex high-temperature furnace has been produced from presintered α-Al₂O₃ precompacts. The furnace is designed for the Mar345 imaging-plate detector system. Up to now, the design complexity of ceramic parts has been limited by the difficulty of machining hard ceramic materials or by the moulds used in hot-pressing and casting. However, the machining of soft presintered ceramic materials enables the realisation of much more demanding designs, provided that the final sintering shrinkage of the ceramic is homogeneous and predictable. The design of the furnace and its realisation and application in an X-ray diffraction study with synchrotron radiation are presented.