The glassy melt present at the grain boundaries of many commercially-produced, polycrystalline ceramic materials will often crystallize during cool down from the sintering temperature, or during subsequent exposure to elevated temperatures. The extent of devitrification of the boundary glass, and the types of phases that form, depend upon the composition of the original glass melt and the thermal history of the material. In a 96% Al2O3 ceramic, for example, a boundary glass that is high in CaO will crystallize to anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8), gehlenite (Ca2Al2SiO7), garnet ((Mg,Ca)3Al2Si3O12) and spinel (MgAl2O4) upon exposure to temperatures between 1050° and 1350° C. Devitrification is essentially complete within one hour of exposure to these elevated temperatures. The microstructure of such a material, before and after a 100-hour heat treatment at 1150° C, is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively.Although the microstructure of such materials can change dramatically with heat treatment, there is little evidence that this difference results in a change in the room temperature mechanical properties of the bulk material.