Processes of phase formation and densification during reactive sintering of YAG:Nd3+ laser ceramics have been studied through the 2.88Y(2)O(3)-0.12Nd(2)O(3)-5Al(2)O(3) model powder system with a bimodal yttria particle size distribution. It has been found that utilization of submicron yttria powders can provide a competitive advantage of shrinkage over swelling processes by changing the kinetics of VAG phase formation. Excluding the swelling effect during densification allows one to produce YAG:Nd3+ (4 at%) laser ceramics by reactive sintering with in line optical transmission of about SOT at lambda=650 for a 1 mm thick sample. (C) 2014 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved