Determination Of Electrical Resistance During Powder Compaction And Heating Using Spark Plasma Sintering

Field assisted Sintering Technologies (FAST) like Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) use current-enhanced sintering kinetics combined with applied uniaxial pressure. The direct current ideally leads to volumetric Joule heating in the sample. In terms of understanding the whole process, the knowledge of pressure- and temperature-depended electrical resistance of the powder body is of fundamental interest. In the talk, an advanced method to determine the electrical resistance will be discussed. First, the pressure-depended electrical resistance at room temperature is determined. Then, the measurement strategy is implemented in the SPS process. Examples will be given for materials like pure metal and composite powders. The documented data will support the simulation of the SPS process and give the opportunity for better understanding of sintering behaviors.The adaption of the determination process to existing or future SPS equipment will be discussed.