Spark plasma sintering of alumina: Study of parameters, formal sintering analysis and hypotheses on the mechanism(s) involved in densification and grain growth

Julien Gurt Santanach (1) , Alicia Weibel (1) , Claude Estournès (1) , Q. Yang (1) , Christophe Laurent (1) , Alain Peigney (1)

1 CIRIMAT - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'ingenierie des matériaux

The spark plasma sintering (SPS) of an undoped commercial α-Al2O3 powder (0.14 μm) was investigated. The SPS parameters such as the dwell temperature, applied external pressure, temperature of pressure application, dwell time and pulse pattern were varied. A sintering path (relative density vs. grain size) showing two regimes has been brought to the fore: densification without grain growth occurring at the lower temperatures and grain growth without much further densification taking place at the higher temperatures, with a threshold between 1100 and 1200 °C. In addition, a formal sintering analysis was performed in order to identify the mechanism(s) involved in densification and grain growth.

Mots clés: Sintering; Spark plasma sintering; Ceramics; Crystalline oxides; Alumina

Domaines: Matériaux; Matériaux

Julien Gurt Santanach, Alicia Weibel, Claude Estournès, Q. Yang, Christophe Laurent, et al.. Spark plasma sintering of alumina: Study of parameters, formal sintering analysis and hypotheses on the mechanism(s) involved in densification and grain growth. Acta Materialia, 2011, 59 (4), pp.1400-1408. ⟨10.1016/j.actamat.2010.11.002⟩. ⟨hal-03544268⟩