Sintering

Sintering is a method for manufacturing components from ceramic or metal powders by heating the powder until the particles adhere to form the component required. The resulting products are characterised by an enhanced density and strength, and are used in a wide range of industries. Sintering of advanced materials: fundamentals and processes reviews important developments in this technology and its applications Part one discusses the fundamentals of sintering with chapters on topics such as the thermodynamics of sintering, kinetics and mechanisms of densification, the kinetics of microstructural change and liquid phase sintering. Part two reviews advanced sintering processes including atmospheric sintering, vacuum sintering, microwave sintering, field/current assisted sintering and photonic sintering. Finally, Part three covers sintering of aluminium, titanium and their alloys, refractory metals, ultrahard materials, thin films, ultrafine and nanosized particles for advanced materials. With its distinguished editor and international team of contributors, Sintering of advanced materials: fundamentals and processes reviews the latest advances in sintering and is a standard reference for researchers and engineers involved in the processing of ceramics, powder metallurgy, net-shape manufacturing and those using advanced materials in such sectors as electronics, automotive and aerospace engineering. Explores the thermodynamics of sintering including sinter bonding and densification Chapters review a variety of sintering methods including atmosphere, vacuum, liquid phase and microwave sintering Discusses sintering of a variety of materials featuring refractory metals, super hard materials and functionally graded materials

In the past few years there has been rapid growth in the activities involving particulate materials because of recognized advantages in manufacturing. This growth is attributed to several factors; i) an increased concern over energy utilization, ii) a desire to better control microstructure in engineermg materials, iii) the need for 1mproved material economy, iv) societal and economic pressures for higher productivity and quality, v) requirements for unique property combinations for high performance applica tions, and vi) a desire for net shape forming. Accordingly, liquid phase sintering has received increased attention as part of the growth in particulate materials processing. As a consequence, the commercial applications for liquid phase sintering are expanding rapidly. This active and expanding interest is not well served by available texts. For this reason I felt it was appropriate to write this book on liquid phase sintering. The technology of liquid phase sintering IS quite old and has been in use in the ceramics industry for many centuries. However, the general perception among materials and manufacturing engineers is that liquid phase sintering is still a novel technique. I believe the diverse technological appli cations outlined in this book will dispel I such impressions. Liquid phase. sintering has great value in fabricating several unique materials to near net shapes and will continue to expand in applications as the fundamental attrib utes are better appreciated. I am personally involved with several uses for liquid phase sintering.

This book is addressed to a large and multidisciplinary audience of researchers and students dealing with or interested in sintering. Though commonly known as a method for production of objects from fines or powders, sintering is a very complex physicochemical phenomenon. It is complex because it involves a number of phenomena exhibiting themselves in various heterogeneous material systems, in a wide temperature range, and in different physical states. It is multidisciplinary research area because understanding of sintering requires a broad knowledge - from solid state physics and fluid dynamics to thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions. Finally, sintering is not only a phenomenon. As a material processing method, sintering embraces the wide group of technologies used to obtain such different products as for example iron ore agglomerate and luminescent powders. As a matter of fact, this publication is a rare opportunity to connect the researchers involved in different domains of sintering in a single book.

Sintering process studies have re-emerged strongly in the past decade due to extensive discussions about the stabilization of nanoparticles and nanostructures, and the development of controlled nanograined bulk materials. This book presents the state-of-art in experiments and theory of novel sintering processes, traditional sintering and grain growth. The scope ranges from powder metallurgy to ceramic and composites processing. The challenges of conventional and novel sintering and grain growth in nanopowders and nanostructures are addressed, being useful for students as well as professionals interested in sintering at the nanoscale.

Powder-based materials and treatment technologies rank high in contemporary scientific-technical progress due to their numerous significant technoeconomic qualities. Sintering of such materials allows saving on materials and lowering the cost price of the product, as well as manufacturing complex composite materials with unique combinations of qualities. Materials of record high values of some physic-mechanical and also biochemical characteristics can be obtained owing to structural peculiarities of super dispersed condition. Sintering of functional materials for innovative perspectives in automotive and aeronautical engineering, space technology, lightweight construction, mechanical engineering, modern design, and many other applications requires established relationship in the materials-process-properties system. Therefore, the industry being interested in understanding theoretical modeling, and control over behavior of such powdered materials has promoted the research activities of this manuscript's authors.

This book represents the first ever scientific monograph including an in-depth analysis of all major field-assisted sintering techniques. Until now, the electromagnetic field-assisted technologies of materials processing were lacking a systematic and generalized description in one fundamental publication; this work promotes the development of generalized concepts and of comparative analyses in this emerging area of materials fabrication. This book describes modern technologies for the powder processing-based fabrication of advanced materials. New approaches for the development of well-tailored and stable structures are thoroughly discussed. Since the potential of traditional thermo-mechanical methods of material treatment is limited due to inadequate control during processing, the book addresses ways to more accurately control the resultant material's structure and properties by an assisting application of electro-magnetic fields. The book describes resistance sintering, high-voltage consolidation, sintering by low-voltage electric pulses (including spark plasma sintering), flash sintering, microwave sintering, induction heating sintering, magnetic pulse compaction and other field-assisted sintering techniques. Includes an in-depth analysis of all major field-assisted sintering techniques; Explains new techniques and approaches for material treatment; Provides detailed descriptions of spark plasma sintering, microwave sintering, high-voltage consolidation, magnetic pulse compaction, and various other approaches when field-assisted treatment is applied.

The chapters covered in this book include emerging new techniques on sintering. Major experts in this field contributed to this book and presented their research. Topics covered in this publication include Spark plasma sintering, Magnetic Pulsed compaction, Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic technology for the preparation of 3-dimesinal circuits, Microwave sintering of thermistor ceramics, Synthesis of Bio-compatible ceramics, Sintering of Rare Earth Doped Bismuth Titanate Ceramics prepared by Soft Combustion, nanostructured ceramics, alternative solid-state reaction routes yielding densified bulk ceramics and nanopowders, Sintering of intermetallic superconductors such as MgB2, impurity doping in luminescence phosphors synthesized using soft techniques, etc. Other advanced sintering techniques such as radiation thermal sintering for the manufacture of thin film solid oxide fuel cells are also described.

This study guide corresponds to «Sintering of powder materials» course of the Master degree program at Novosibirsk State Technical University 22.04.01 – Materials Science and Technology. The guide consists of six parts and contains a brief overview of historical aspects of sintering, powder fabrication and characterization methods, powder shaping and compaction processes, and the basics of solid state and liquid phase sintering. The guide also contains a description of advanced sintering methods and sintering processes found in additive manufacturing. Classical and novel materials obtainable by sintering are described. Current trends in the development of sintering science are discussed. Each part of the guide is followed by control questions. Problems with solutions are offered to help the student solve problems encountered in real research and industrial sintering practice. Problems for self-study are also provided, many of which were designed by the author based on her own research experience. Topics for self-study are provided and can be used for students' presentations at seminars.