By Yingjie Yang and Martha Mecartney
Materials Science and Engineering, UC Irvine

LaPO4/Al2O3 eutectic microstructure produced by flash sintering, a process that uses an electric field to enhance densification at lower temperatures and shorter processing times. Flat-polished specimen imaged at 20 kV by SEM in backscattered electron mode. Bright regions are the LaPO4 phase.

Image taken with FEI Magellan 400 XHR SEM at IMRI

Selected as one of the finalists featured on the 2nd Microscopy Today Micrographs Competition (2020).