Spark plasma sintering and spark plasma upsetting of an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy

Abstract

Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy powder Alumix 431D was sintered at 400°C by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and upset forging was applied to the sintered sample through SPS. Densities of 99.1 ± 0.3% and 99.8 ± 0.1% of theoretical were obtained for the sintered and forged samples, respectively. T6 temper was carried out on the samples and microstructure analysis and mechanical properties before and after heat treatment were evaluated. Microhardness of 173 ± 3 and 172 ± 3 HV were attained in the T6 temper of as-sintered and forged samples, respectively. The flexural strength and strain values were significantly improved after the forging process, which can be mainly attributed to the better particle bonding in addition to the occurrence of some recrystallization. Significant loss in the ductility was observed after the T6 temper.

Processing metal powders via field assisted sintering technology (FAST): A critical review

“…In an attempt to improve diffusion bonding in samples of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy powder, Tünçay et al [165] used FAST at 400°C, 1 h and 50 MPa (Step 1) before a 'forging' step in the FAST furnace at 400°C until max pressure was reached (Step 2). Although the forging step reduced porosity and produced strength levels comparable to wrought product, ductility was still poor due to lack of powder bonding.…”

Flash spark plasma sintering of zirconia nanoparticles: Electro-thermal-mechanical-microstructural simulation and scalability solutions

“…ZrB 2 [38], SiC [39][40][41][42], Nd-Fe-B [43], TiB 2 -hBN [44], B 4 C [45] materials have been produced by this method. This method is very interesting for achieving high density of refractories as the radial shrinkage allows the pore flattening and porosity elimination during the sinterforging SPS approach [46,47]. High dimension specimens have been produced by this method [39].…”

Fabrication of ZnO Ceramics with Defects by Spark Plasma Sintering Method and Investigations of Their Photoelectrochemical Properties

“…The sintering methods for preparing zinc oxide ceramics include cold sintering [16][17][18], ultra-high temperature sintering [19], flash sintering [20], and spark plasma sintering [21,22]. Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a rapid sintering technique, which is widely used to fabricate metals [23,24], metallic alloys [25,26], carbide [27], various MAX-phase materials [28], and metallic oxide (ZnO, AZO) [29,30], etc. Different from the conventional sintering method, SPS can fabricate ceramics in very short time under low voltage and high direct current condition.…”