Plasma Sintering of Ceramics

本研究的目的是为陶瓷材料的成功等离子烧结奠定科学基础。所采用的方法是探索等离子体参数-射频与微波、气体、掺杂剂、稳态与脉冲功率输入等，等离子体与材料表面的相互作用以及烧结动力学随等离子体参数、样品成分、加热速度、等离子烧结的潜力可能非常大，如果能开发出氧化铝、氧化锆等技术感兴趣的陶瓷，这项技术可能对美国的全球经济竞争地位非常重要，它为某些几何形状的产品提供了极高的烧结率--即薄壁管、小直径棒材，由于快速烧结过程，导致了非常高的生产率和可能独特的组织结构。

The objective of the study is to develop the science base required for succesful plasma sintering of ceramics. The approach taken is to explore the plasma parameters-RF vs. microwave, gases, dopants, steady-state vs. pulsed power input, etc., the interaction of the plasma with the material surface and the sintering kinetics as functions of the plasma parameters, specimen composition, heating rates, etc. The potential of plasma sintering could be extremely great, and this technique could be very important to the global economic competitive position of the United States, if it can be developed for ceramics of technical interest such as aluminun oxide, zirconium oxide, etc. It offers the potential for extremely high sintering rates for certain geometry products-i.e., thin walled tubes, small diameter rods, leading to very high production rates and possibly unique microstructures, as a result of the rapid sintering process.