Papers by Keyword: Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS)

Abstract: Dense bulk ZrB2 ceramic was synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) and followed spark plasma sintering (SPS) using zirconium and boron as initial materials. It was found that MA process was effective to fragment the coarse metal zirconium particles from 45 m to less than 1 m within 20 hours. In comparison with the commercial ZrB2 powder, the as-obtained zirconium and boron mixture powders showed higher sinterability. When the sintering was carried out at 1800oC, the relative density of synthesized ZrB2 samples using mixture powder was above 95%, higher than that of ZrB2 sample prepared using commercial powder (73%). Vickers hardness of those ZrB2 samples was at the same level of 15 GPa. However, the fracture toughness of ZrB2 samples seemed to depend on the heating rate of the SPS process. Corresponding to the heating rates of 10, 50, and 100oC/min, the fracture toughness of as-prepared ZrB2 samples were 3.83, 3.19, and 2.74 MPa•m1/2, respectively.

Abstract: The thermal conductivities of the LaPO4/Al2O3 composites that were fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) were determined. The results revealed that their thermal conductivities displayed nearly a slow decrease with increasing temperature from 25oC to 800oC, having the classic 1/T dependence. In addition, the conductivities of the composites decrease monotonously with increasing the LaPO4 content because of the lower thermal conductivity of LaPO4. The calculated conductivities of the composites using Maxwell equation match well the experimental values at both the end members of LaPO4 and Al2O3 being the continuous phase, but showing a little deviation at intermediate composition.

Abstract: Ti(C,N) cermets were prepared by SPS method. The effects of nickel salt coating as well as ball milling times on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the cermets were investigated. SEM images shows that the nickel was coated homogeneously on the surface of Ti(C,N) powders by mixing Ni salt and Ti(C,N) powder. The grains of Ti(C,N)-based cermets became finer with increasing ball milling time. The flexural strength increased when the balling milling was below 48h, and then decreased with increasing of ball milling time, which was due to the decrease of the flake structure in cermets.

Abstract: Copper-based electrical contact materials were prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) method and powder metallurgy with the addition of different proportions of rare earth (RE) element. It is found that SPS method greatly enhances the density, hardness and conductivity of the composite materials, thus improving their comprehensive properties. Compared with powder metallurgy, SPS boasts a shorter sintering time, smaller compression force and higher efficiency. RE has considerable influence on the comprehensive properties of copper-based electrical contact materials. When the content of RE lower than 0.1%, the comprehensive properties can be improved by increasing RE.

Abstract: High nitrogen nanostructured Fe-17Cr-11Mn-3Mo stainless steel powders were produced by high energy ball milling under a nitrogen atmosphere. It was found with increasing the milling time, the nitrogen contents of the powder mixtures increase linearly up to 1.98 wt pct after 96h, and a linear regression equation, WN = 0.19357 + 0.01887t , has been further established. In addition, with the increased milling time, the crystallite sizes and particle sizes of the powders decrease continuously, the lattice strains and sphericity of the powders increase gradually. After milling 60h, the high nitrogen nanocrystalline stainless steel powders with a fine particle size range of 5~10μm, excellent sphericity and uniform components can be obtained, whose crystallite size is about 5.0nm and lattice strain is about 1.0%. The powders milled for 60h was compacted using spark plasma sintering process at different temperatures. It is found that a fully austenitic high nitrogen stainless steel with almost full densification can be obtained by SPS at 1000°C, whose nitrogen content is 0.82 wt pct.

Abstract: The nanosized yttrium aluminium garnet powders doped with rare earth oxides are prepared by combustion synthesis using several organic fuel. Dense materials are manufactured by conventional sintering and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The combustion synthesis provides preparation of pure crystalline YAG nanopowders at ratio Y/Al = 3/5 after additional calcination at 1000 oC. The relative density of the SPS sintered samples at 1500 oC for 2 min is in the range of 95.4–98.5% depending on dispersity of powders.

Abstract: Due to their interesting properties copper-based materials have been considered appropriate heat-sinks for first wall panels in nuclear fusion devices. The concept of property tailoring involved in the design of metal matrix composites has led to several attempts to use nanodiamond (nDiamond) as reinforcement. In particular, nDiamond produced by detonation has been used to reinforce copper. In the present study, powder mixtures of copper and nDiamond with 20 at. % C were mechanically alloyed (MA) and consolidated via hot extrusion or spark plasma sintering (SPS). The hardness evolutions as well as the structural characterization of as-milled nanocomposite powders and consolidated samples are reported. Density measurements indicate that the consolidation outcome varies significantly with the process used. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) inspection of the extrusion consolidated sample revealed bonding at the interface between copper and nDiamond particles. The nDiamond size distribution was determined from TEM observations. The results obtained are discussed in terms of consolidation routes.

Abstract: Different compositions of SiAlON materials have been prepared from separate nanopowders and their composites: Si3N4 – AlN, Si3N4, Al2O3 and Y2O3, produced by the method of plasma-chemical synthesis. Compositions have been pressure-less sintered in nitrogen medium up to 1750°C with a heating rate of 10°C/min and holding time for 2 hours or by spark plasma sintering (SPS) in vacuum at 1700°C with a heating rate of 100°C/min and holding time of 5 min. The densification behaviour of the materials at these sintering conditions depends insignificantly on the powder composition. It is possible to obtain dense ceramic materials with relatively fine-grained structure (200-300 nm) from nanosized powders at relatively low temperatures (1400 - 1600°C) with good mechanical properties.

Abstract: Lithium sulfide (Li2S)-carbon composite positive electrodes were prepared by the spark-plasma-sintering (SPS) process for use in rechargeable lithium batteries. By the SPS treatment of Li2S and acetylene black (AB) blended powder, the strong binding between the active materials and the carbon powders were formed. Such contact effect improved the electrochemical performance of the cells with liquid electrolytes (1M LiFP6/(EC+DMC)), probably due to the increase in conductivity of the positive electrodes, though the samples prepared by the ball-milling process showed no significant capacity in the electrochemical tests.

Abstract: Diamond-particle-dispersed copper (Cu) matrix composites were fabricated from Cu-coated diamond particles by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process, and the microstructure and thermal properties of the composites fabricated were examined. These composites can well be consolidated in a temperature range between 973K and 1173K and scanning electron microscopy detects no reaction at the interface between the diamond particle and the Cu matrix. The relative packing density of the diamond-Cu composite increases with increasing sintering temperature and holding time, reaching 99.2% when sintered at a temperature of 1173K for a holding time of 2.1ks. Thermal conductivity of the diamond-Cu composite containing 43.2 vol. % diamond increases with increasing relative packing density, reaching a maximum (654W/mK) at a relative packing density of 99.2%. This thermal conductivity is 83% the theoretical value estimated by Maxwell-Eucken equation. The coefficient of thermal expansion of the composites falls in the upper line of Kerner’s model, indicating strong bonding between the diamond particle and the Cu matrix in the composite.