CB-4
Spark Plasma Sintering is a comparatively new technique consisting of directly applied pulsed dc currents and uniaxial pressure to a powdered material in a die with heating rates typically from 100 °C/min up to 1,500 °C/min. The process results in fully dense, fine grained bodies in very short holding time and at considerably lower temperatures (hundreds Celsius degrees) compared to the more conventional sintering and hot pressing techniques.
Owing to its peculiar features, SPS is gaining increased interest for the production of functional nanoceramics from high purity powders, of composites, cermets, coatings, joints and, being SPS a non-equilibrium process, also of materials containing non-equilibrium phases or materials combining different phases that would not normally coexist.
Experimental and theoretical contributions are welcome directed to more precisely define the mechanisms underlying SPS and their effective control, to fix optimum experimental design and to deeply understand and predict the performance of a given material system, both during its consolidation and in final use.
In Flash Sintering, a technique very recently refreshed from metals to the field of ceramics, a direct current field applied by a pair of electrodes to a green ceramic specimen results in a nearly instantaneous (few seconds) densification when the field and the temperature exceed threshold values. This has often been observed to be accompanied by a sharp increase in the electrical conductivity. Exceptional high dnsification rates and low densification temperatures may be obtained with significant time and energy saving, that can be further reduced by application of stress.
The underlying fundamental mechanisms of charge transport, chemical diffusion and the pulse nature of Joule heating effective on the transient phenomena active in flash sintering, and how powder grain size and stoichiometry affect the process appear until now scarcely debated and poorly understood
Contributions are solicited directed to precisely defining the process control parameters to fully exploit the potential of Flash Sintering of ceramics through a deeper insight of the densification mechanisms, and to identify the range of materials, shapes and functions to which the techniques may successfully be applied.
Owing to its peculiar features, SPS is gaining increased interest for the production of functional nanoceramics from high purity powders, of composites, cermets, coatings, joints and, being SPS a non-equilibrium process, also of materials containing non-equilibrium phases or materials combining different phases that would not normally coexist.
Experimental and theoretical contributions are welcome directed to more precisely define the mechanisms underlying SPS and their effective control, to fix optimum experimental design and to deeply understand and predict the performance of a given material system, both during its consolidation and in final use.
In Flash Sintering, a technique very recently refreshed from metals to the field of ceramics, a direct current field applied by a pair of electrodes to a green ceramic specimen results in a nearly instantaneous (few seconds) densification when the field and the temperature exceed threshold values. This has often been observed to be accompanied by a sharp increase in the electrical conductivity. Exceptional high dnsification rates and low densification temperatures may be obtained with significant time and energy saving, that can be further reduced by application of stress.
The underlying fundamental mechanisms of charge transport, chemical diffusion and the pulse nature of Joule heating effective on the transient phenomena active in flash sintering, and how powder grain size and stoichiometry affect the process appear until now scarcely debated and poorly understood
Contributions are solicited directed to precisely defining the process control parameters to fully exploit the potential of Flash Sintering of ceramics through a deeper insight of the densification mechanisms, and to identify the range of materials, shapes and functions to which the techniques may successfully be applied.