Electrical field enhancement of compaction and super-plastic deformation of ceramics

Abstract

This chapter discusses the electrical field enhancement of compaction and super-plastic deformation of ceramics. The interest in electrical field activated sintering that increased substantially during recent years manifested both by an increasing number of articles dealing with various aspects of this sintering technique and by the fact that most ceramic conferences nowadays have special sessions devoted to this topic. The idea to compact materials by electro-discharge process stems from the 1960s. To date the technique is mostly referred to as spark plasma sintering (SPS) or to field activated sintering technique (FAST) and this technique is similar to conventional hot pressing in the way that the powder is loaded in a die and a uniaxial pressure is applied. However, the sample is not heated by the use of an external heating source but by allowing a pulsed direct current to pass through the pressure die and in appropriate cases also through the sample to be compacted.