Highly transparent tellurite glasses and glass-ceramics based on the 85TeO2-15WO3 composition (mol%) were produced by spark plasma sintering from powders previously prepared by the conventional melt-quenching technique and then grinded. A study is reported based on the understanding of carbon contamination that is commonly observed by this non-conventional sintering technique and which constitutes a drawback for optical applications. First,t eh influence of the particle size of the initial amorphous powders as well as an additional pressureless sintering step prior to SPS experiments and the use of a physical carbon diffusion barrier have been investigated to reduce the carbon contamination in glass bulks. Second, once reducing the carbon contamination, glass-ceramics were obtained by varying the SPS conditions.
