Xialu Wei

Spark Plasma Sintering of Commercial Zirconium Carbide Powders: Densification Behavior and Mechanical Properties

Commercial zirconium carbide (ZrC) powder is consolidated by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). Processing temperatures range from 1650 to 2100 °C. Specimens with various density levels are obtained when performing single-die SPS at different temperatures. Besides the single-die tooling setup, a double-die tooling setup is employed to largely increase the actual applied pressure to achieve higher densification in a shorter processing time. In order to describe the densification mechanism of ZrC powder under SPS conditions, a power-law creep constitutive equation is utilized, whose coefficients are determined by the inverse regression of the obtained experimental data. The densification of the selected ZrC powder is shown to be likely associated with grain boundary sliding and dislocation glide controlled creep. Transverse rupture strength and microhardness of sintered specimens are measured to be up to 380 MPa and 24 GPa, respectively. Mechanical properties are correlated with specimens’ average grain size and relative density to elucidate the co-factor dependencies.

Zirconium Carbide Produced by Spark Plasma Sintering and Hot Pressing: Densification Kinetics, Grain Growth, and Thermal Properties

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) has been employed to consolidate a micron-sized zirconium carbide (ZrC) powder. ZrC pellets with a variety of relative densities are obtained under different processing parameters. The densification kinetics of ZrC powders subjected to conventional hot pressing and SPS are comparatively studied by applying similar heating and loading profiles. Due to the lack of electric current assistance, the conventional hot pressing appears to impose lower strain rate sensitivity and higher activation energy values than those which correspond to the SPS processing. A finite element simulation is used to analyze the temperature evolution within the volume of ZrC specimens subjected to SPS. The control mechanism for grain growth during the final SPS stage is studied via a recently modified model, in which the grain growth rate dependence on porosity is incorporated. The constant pressure specific heat and thermal conductivity of the SPS-processed ZrC are determined to be higher than those reported for the hot-pressed ZrC and the benefits of applying SPS are indicated accordingly.

The Manufacturing of High Porosity Iron with an Ultra-Fine Microstructure via Free Pressureless Spark Plasma Sintering

High porosity (>40 vol %) iron specimens with micro- and nanoscale isotropic pores were fabricated by carrying out free pressureless spark plasma sintering (FPSPS) of submicron hollow Fe–N powders at 750 °C. Ultra-fine porous microstructures are obtained by imposing high heating rates during the preparation process. This specially designed approach not only avoids the extra procedures of adding and removing space holders during the formation of porous structures, but also triggers the continued phase transitions of the Fe–N system at relatively lower processing temperatures. The compressive strength and energy absorption characteristics of the FPSPS processed specimens are examined here to be correspondingly improved as a result of the refined microstructure.