Finite-element modeling of the electro-thermal contacts in the spark plasma sintering process

Charles Manière (1) , Anthony Pavia (1) , Lise Durand (2) , Geoffroy Chevallier (1) , Khalid Afanga (1) , Claude Estournès (1)

1 CIRIMAT - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'ingenierie des matériaux
2 CEMES - Centre d'élaboration de matériaux et d'études structurales

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a breakthrough process for powder consolidation assisted by pulsed current and uniaxial pressure. In order to model the temperature variations of the tools during a SPS cycle, the Graphite-Papyex-Graphite contact phenomena are studied experimentally and modeled by finite element calculations. Compared to conducting materials, the thermo graphic image of an insulating sample (alumina) shows strongly localized heating along the Papyex implying contact effects are predominant. The aim of this modeling study is to determine the main contact phenomena due to Papyex. It is based on numerous experimental data and studies the case of alumina sintering. Finally the contact model is confronted to experimental thermal images. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Mots clés: Alumina; Sintered alumina; Sintering; Spark plasma sintering; Thermal contact; Finite element method

Domaines: Matériaux; Chimie inorganique; Chimie théorique et/ou physique; Chimie-Physique [physics.chem-ph]

Charles Manière, Anthony Pavia, Lise Durand, Geoffroy Chevallier, Khalid Afanga, et al.. Finite-element modeling of the electro-thermal contacts in the spark plasma sintering process. Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2016, 36 (3), pp.741-748. ⟨10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2015.10.033⟩. ⟨hal-01727546⟩