• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.894-895
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• 2006

WC-$10C_o$-0.8VC nanocrystalline powders were sintered by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and hot press sintering (HPS), and the microstructure and properties were compared. Results show that dense WC-$10C_o$-0.8VC can be obtained by SPS in several minutes when the sintering temperature is $>1200^{\circ}C$. Sintered at a temperature of $1300^{\circ}C$ the sample prepared by SPS for 3 minutes has higher density, finer grains and better properties than that prepared by HPS for 60 minutes. SPS can be used to prepare nanocrystalline WC-$10C_o$-0.8VC with improved properties when suitable sintering parametesr are chosen.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2001

Spark-Plasma Sintering(SPS) is one of the new sintering methods which takes advantages both inconventional pressure sintering and electric current sintering. It is known that SPS is very effective for the densification of hard-to-sinter materials like refractory metals, intermetallic compounds, glass and ceramics without grain growth. However, a clear explanation for sintering mechanism and an experimental evidence for the formation of weak plasma during SPS are not given yet. In this study, fundamental study on sintering behavior and mechanism of SPS was investiged. For this study, various spherical Fe powders were prepared such as as-received, as-reduced, and as-oxidized and then sintered by SPS facility. In order to confirm the surface cleaning effect during SPS neck region and fracture surface of sintered body was observed and analyzed by SEM/EPMA. Densification behavior was analyzed from the data of deflection along the pressure axis. Some specimens were additionally produced by Hot Pressing and the results were compared with those of SPS.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.14 no.1 s.60
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• pp.32-37
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• 2007

Using spark plasma sintering process (SPS), Ti-6Al-4V alloy powders were successfully consolidated without any contamination happened due to reaction between the alloy powders and graphite mold. Variation of microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated as a function of SPS temperature and time. Compared with hot isostatic pressing (HIP), the sintering time and temperature could be lowered to be 10 min. and $900^{\circ}C$, respectively. At the SPS condition, UTS and elongation were about 890 MPa and 24%, respectively. Considering the density of 98.5% and elongation of 24%, further improving the tensile strength would obtain by increasing the SPS pressure.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.363-368
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• 2004

In the present study, the focus is on the analysis of the effect of the mold dimensions on the temperature distribution of a die during plasma activated sintering. The temperature distribution of a cylindrical mold with various dimensions was measured using K-type thermocouples. The temperature homogeneity of the die was studied based on the direction and dimensions of the die. A temperature gradient existed in the radial direction of the die during the plasma activated sintering. Also, the magnitude of the temperature gradient was increased with increasing sintering temperature. In the longitudinal direction, however, there was no temperature gradient. The temperature gradient of the die in the radial direction strongly depended on a ratio of die volume to punch area.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.29-30
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• 2001

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2010

The unique features of spark plasma sintering process are the possibilities of a very fast heating rate and a short holding time to obtain fully dense materials. $\beta$-SiC powder with 0, 2, 6, 10 wt% of $\alpha$-SiC particles (seeds) and 4 wt% of Al-B-C (sintering aids) were spark plasma sintered at $1700-1850^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. The heating rate, applied pressure and sintering atmosphere were kept at $100^{\circ}C/min$, 40 MPa and a flowing Ar gas (500 CC/min). Microstructural development of SiC as function of seed content and temperature during spark plasma sintering was investigated quantitatively and statistically using image analysis. Quantitative image analyses on the sintered SiC ceramics were conducted on the grain size, aspect ratio and grain size distribution of SiC. The microstructure of SiC sintered up to $1700^{\circ}C$ consisted of equiaxed grains. In contrast, the growth of large elongated SiC grains in small matrix grains was shown in sintered bodies at $1750^{\circ}C$ and the plate-like grains interlocking microstructure had been developed by increasing sintering temperature. The introduction of $\alpha$-SiC seeds into $\beta$-SiC accelerated the grain growth of elongated grains during sintering, resulting in the plate-like grains interlocking microstructure. In the $\alpha$-SiC seeds added in $\beta$-SiC, the rate of grain growth decreased with $\alpha$-SiC seed content, however, bulk density and aspect ratio of grains in sintered body increased.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.405-410
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• 2008

SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) Ni-YSZ anode was fabricated by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) process and its microstructure and electrical properties were investigated in this study. The spark plasma sintering process was carried out at $800{\sim}1000^{\circ}C$ for holding time of 5 min under 40 MPa. To fabricate Ni-YSZ anode, the SPS processed specimens were reduced at $800^{\circ}C$ under $H_2$ atmosphere. The reduced specimens showed relative density of $48.4{\sim}64.8%$ according to sintering temperature. And also, the electrical conductivity of reduced specimens after sintering at 900 and $1000^{\circ}C$ showed $480{\sim}600$ (S/cm) values at the measuring range of $600{\sim}900^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.256-259
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• 2014

A magnetic powder, M-type barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19), was consolidated with the spark plasma sintering process. Three different holding temperatures, $850^{\circ}C$, $875^{\circ}C$ and $900^{\circ}C$ were applied to the spark plasma sintering process with the same holding times, heating rates and compaction pressure of 30 MPa. The relative density was measured simultaneously with spark plasma sintering and the convergent relative density after cooling was found to be proportional to the holding temperature. The full relative density was obtained at $900^{\circ}C$ and the total sintering time was only 33.3 min, which was much less than the conventional furnace sintering method. The higher holding temperature also led to the higher saturation magnetic moment (${\sigma}_s$) and the higher coercivity ($H_c$) in the vibrating sample magnetometer measurement. The saturation magnetic moment (${\sigma}_s$) and the coercivity ($H_c$) obtained at $900^{\circ}C$ were 56.3 emu/g and 541.5 Oe for each.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.2 s.273
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• pp.140-144
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• 2005

The microstructures and mechanical properties of Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystals (TZP) sintered bodies, which made by pressureless and spark plasma sintering techniques, were investigated using XRD, SEM, and TEM techniques. In the spark plasma sintered samples, the TZP grains were equiaxed type including many sub-grain boundaries regardless of sintering conditions. The biaxial strength of TZP having an average of 80 nm grains in diameter was high in value with 1025 MPa, but fracture toughness showed a low value due to the absence of a fracture toughening mechanism such as transformation toughening. In the Pressureless Sintered (PLSed) samples, the grain size of TZP was strongly dependent on the sintering temperature; i.e., it gradually increased as the sintering temperature increased. The value of fracture toughness increased as the grain size increased by the stress-induced phase transformation and Borne crack deflection.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.447-453
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• 2014

Effect of oxygen content in the ultrafine tungsten powder fabricated by electrical explosion of wire method on the behvior of spark plasma sintering was investigated. The initial oxygen content of 6.5 wt% of as-fabricated tungsten powder was reduced to 2.3 and 0.7 wt% for the powders which were reduction-treated at $400^{\circ}C$ for 2 hour and at $500^{\circ}C$ for 1h in hydrogen atmosphere, respectively. The reduction-treated tungsten powders were spark-plasma sintered at $1200-1600^{\circ}C$ for 100-3600 sec. with applied pressure of 50 MPa under vacuum of 0.133 Pa. Maximun sindered density of 97% relative density was obtained under the condition of $1600^{\circ}C$ for 1h from the tungsten powder with 0.7 wt% oxygen. Sintering activation energy of $95.85kJ/mol^{-1}$ was obtained, which is remarkably smaller than the reported ones of $380{\sim}460kJ/mol^{-1}$ for pressureless sintering of micron-scale tungsten powders.