Spark and plasma in spark plasma sintering of rigid ceramic nanoparticles: A model system of YAG

Rachel Marder (1) , Claude Estournès (2) , Geoffroy Chevallier (2) , Rachman Chaim (1)

1 Technion - Israel Institute of Technology [Haifa]
2 CIRIMAT - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'ingenierie des matériaux

2014AbstractYttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) nano-particles were spark plasma sintered between 1100◦C and 1400◦C under 2–100 MPa pressure withoutisothermal treatments. The span of relative density between 48% and 99% enabled microstructural examination at different stages of the densification.Electron microscopy examination showed material jets with amorphous character connecting between the spherical nano-particles, which wererelated to surface melting. Aligned nano-particles within the nano-clusters, apparently affected by high local electric fields, were observed inthe partially dense microstructure. Rapid densification from 1200◦C was related to densification by nano-particle sliding and rotation assistedby surface softening. The observed microstructural features were discussed with respect to sparking and plasma formation during the SPS. Theoccurrence of plasma was explained by means of the plasma formation- plastic deformation diagram.

Mots clés: Plasma; Spark plasma sintering; Densification; Powder consolidation; YAG

Domaines: Matériaux; Matériaux

Rachel Marder, Claude Estournès, Geoffroy Chevallier, Rachman Chaim. Spark and plasma in spark plasma sintering of rigid ceramic nanoparticles: A model system of YAG. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2014, vol. 35 (n° 1), pp. 211-218. ⟨10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2014.08.001⟩. ⟨hal-01451094⟩