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1 Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department, University of California at Davis,
One Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
2 Department of Materials Engineering, Drexel University,
32nd Chestnut Str., Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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Field activated sintering is a novel processing technique with a high potential to
process bulk nanomaterials with good interparticle bonding. The external field application is
capable to induce fast densification and reasonable control of grain growth during sintering
of nanocrystalline powders. The process has been applied for the densification of a variety
of materials, electrically conductive, semiconductors or insulators. This presentation will overview examples of field sintered nanomaterials and focus on studies of electrical field effects in sintering. The main mechanisms involved during electrical field densification and the interplay between the applied electrical current and densifying materials during field assisted sintering (electrical discharge, constriction resistance, current uniformity, heating rate and pressure effects) will be addressed. |
full paper (pdf, 288 Kb)