Power‐controlled flash spark plasma sintering of gadolinia‐doped ceria

Abstract

Flash spark plasma sintering (FSPS) is a newly developed technique for consolidation of powder materials into dense compacts. This method belongs to the group of electrical field-assisted sintering (FAST) techniques. It combines the voltage/current characteristics of flash sintering (FS), 1,2 usually performed in pressure-less dog-bone configuration, with the sintering cell design typical of spark plasma sintering (SPS). 3 Recent investigations in FSPS 4-8 use mostly a modification of the classical SPS to achieve FS conditions. This is usually done through the insertion of a nonconductive sleeve (eg, BN 9) between the powder (or pre-compacted/partially pre-sintered pellet) and the graphite die, or alternatively in a die-free configuration. Commercial instruments enabling FSPS processing with higher voltage characteristics (>10 V), using independent external heating of the die or precise time application of the electric field, are under development or in early application stage. In the presented paper, we describe the pressure-assisted FS compaction of powder in an SPS configuration using such a newly developed instrument. We have chosen ceria as a sintering probe not only for its

Flash Sintering of YSZ/Al2O3 Composites: Effect of Processing and Testing Conditions

“…Although definitive conclusions cannot be drawn yet, the mainstream is that the process is predominantly driven by the Joule effect coupled with side field/current-induced athermal phenomena [ 23 ] which can be possibly use to develop ceramics with new functional [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ] and mechanical [ 28 ] properties. On the other hand, several researchers focused on the application of the process to different class of ceramics employing commercially-available spark plasma sintering [ 26 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ] and microwave sintering [ 33 , 34 ] equipment.…”

Pressure‐assisted flash sintering of ZnO ceramics

“…The heater preheats the sample from the outside to the inside by radiation or conduction, just like most die‐retaining flash sintering works (including FSPS) 12,13,35,45 . This may cause some unexpected problems such as delay in temperature ramp between the heater and the sample, large temperature gradient in the preheated sample, and low energy utilization 52 . In our configuration, the sample preheating is from the inside to the outside, which makes the sample preheating more uniform and faster.…”