Hot Press System for Rapid Sintering of Solid State Inorganic Materials

要求资金用于快速感应热压机（RIHP）。它将为亚稳态材料或对环境气氛敏感的材料提供关键的新能力，这是滑铁卢目前传统热压机无法提供的。这台仪器（在Kleinke的实验室）是12年前安装的，用于致密上一代热电（TE）金属材料。由于老化，它不断地分解，并且仅限于空气稳定的材料。它完全不能用于Nazar实验室的研究，也不适合Kleinke实验室新的研究方向。材料化学研究的创新集中在设计特定的材料性质和理解它们与非晶或晶体结构的关系。纳扎尔的固态电化学项目的很大一部分最近瞄准了纯离子传输的新型材料，作为锂和钠金属电池的固态电解质。一系列正在开发的新型锂/钠超导体是基于（硫）磷酸盐，硫卤化物，氧化物和无机/聚合物复合材料。Kleinke的nserc资助的研究集中在更可持续能源使用的基础和实际兴趣的TE材料上。在这些类别中开发新的先进材料取决于离子/电/热导率和热功率的物理性质测量。它们需要在高密度的压球上进行，以反映其固有特性。RIHP是实现这一目的的理想选择。此外，通过RIHP为固态电池制造非常薄的离子导电无机膜（密度为97%）对于a)最小化电池的质量和体积至关重要；B)抑制产生有害金属枝晶生长的晶界。几乎所有的固体电解质都对水分或二氧化碳敏感，在现有的热压机中无法致密化。即使付出巨大的努力以最小的空气暴露来加载结晶粉末，这些陶瓷的脆弱性也会导致在试图从压力机中取出时断裂。对于抑制不需要的相生长所需的快速固结，材料加工也过于缓慢。这使得样品质量差，固体电解质膜功能差。拟议的RHIP是一种创新类型的系统，使用快速感应而不是缓慢的热加热来运行。Nazar和Kleinke的研究团队现在都迫切需要这种重要的工具，特别是对于需要在惰性气氛和快速加热速率下加工的新材料。RIHP可以局部加热，从而使晶界和这些晶界内的杂质最小化。除了RIHP之外，没有其他具有成本效益的方法来制备高密度固态电解质或热电样品。它是一种独特的工具，将提供极大扩展的处理能力和快速吞吐量。

Funds are requested for a rapid induction hot press (RIHP). It will provide critical new capabilities for metastable materials or those sensitive to ambient atmosphere, that are not available with Waterloo's current, conventional hot-press. This instrument (in Kleinke's lab) was installed 12 years ago to densify previous-generation thermoelectric (TE) metalloid-type materials. It is constantly breaking down due to age and is limited to air-stable materials. It is completely unusable for the research in the Nazar lab, and not suited to the new research directions in the Kleinke lab. Innovation in materials chemistry research is focused on designing specific material properties and understanding their relationship to amorphous or crystalline structure. A large portion of Nazar's program in solid state electrochemistry recently targets novel materials with solely ionic transport as solid-state electrolytes for Li and Na metal batteries. A range of new Li/Na superionic conductors under development are based on (thio)phosphates, sulfo-halides, oxides, and inorganic/polymer composite materials. Kleinke's NSERC-funded research centers on TE materials of fundamental and practical interest for more sustainable energy usage. Developing new advanced materials in these classes depends on physical property measurements of ion/ electrical/thermal conductivity and thermopower. They need to be conducted on highly dense pressed pellets to reflect the intrinsic properties.  RIHP is ideal for such purposes. Additionally, fabricating very thin ion-conductive inorganic membranes ( 97% density) for solid state batteries via RIHP is essential to a) minimize mass and volume in the cell; b) suppress grain boundaries that create hazardous metal dendrite growth. Almost all the solid electrolytes are moisture or CO2-sensitive and cannot be densified in the existing hot-press. Even with herculean efforts to load crystalline powders with minimal air-exposure, the fragility of these ceramics results in fracture upon attempted removal from the press. Material processing is also too slow for rapid consolidation needed to inhibit growth of unwanted phases. This renders poor quality samples and poorly functional solid electrolyte membranes. The proposed RHIP is an innovative type of system that operates using rapid inductive - instead of slow thermal - heating. Both the Nazar and Kleinke research teams now urgently require this vital tool, particularly for new materials that need to be processed under inert atmosphere, and at rapid heating rates. RIHP enables localized heating, and thus minimization of the grain boundaries and the impurities within those boundaries. There are no other cost-effective ways of preparing high-density solid-state electrolyte or thermoelectric samples other than RIHP. It is a unique tool that will provide vastly expanded processing abilities and rapid throughput.