Ultra-fast and energy-efficient sintering of ceramics by electric current concentration
Author(s)
Zapata-Solvas, E
Gómez García, D
Domínguez Rodríguez, A
Todd, RI
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Electric current activated/assisted sintering (ECAS) techniques, such as electrical discharge sintering (EDS) or resistive sintering (RS), have been intensively investigated for longer than 50 years. In this work, a novel system including an electrically insulated graphite die for Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) is described, which allows the sintering of any refractory ceramic material in less than 1 minute starting from room temperature with heating rates higher than 2000°C/min and an energy consumption up to 100 times lower than with SPS. The system alternates or combines direct resistive sintering (DRS) and indirect resistive sintering (IRS). Electrical insulation of the die has been achieved through the insertion of a film made of alumina fibers between the graphite die and the graphite punches, which are protected from the alumina fiber film by a graphite foil. This system localized the electric current directly through the sample (conductive materials) as in DRS and EDS, or through the thin graphite foil (non-conductive materials) as in IRS, and is the first system capable of being used under EDS or RS conditions independently combining current concentration/localization phenomena.
Date Issued
2015-02-17
Date Acceptance
2015-01-19
Citation
Scientific Reports, 2015, 5
ISSN
2045-2322
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Journal / Book Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
5
Copyright Statement
© 2015, Rights Managed by Nature Publishing Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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to obtain permission fromthe license holder in order to reproduce thematerial. To
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License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the
article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if
the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need
to obtain permission fromthe license holder in order to reproduce thematerial. To
view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License URL
Identifier
8513
Article Number
8513