Hot Press System for Rapid Sintering of Solid State Inorganic Materials

要求为快速感应热压机提供资金。它将为亚稳态材料或对环境大气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所无法提供的。这个仪器（在Kleinke的实验室）是12年前安装的，用于致密上一代热电（TE）类金属材料。它由于老化而不断分解，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实验室的新研究方向。 材料化学研究的创新重点是设计特定的材料特性，并了解它们与非晶或晶体结构的关系。Nazar的固态电化学计划的很大一部分最近针对的是仅具有离子传输的新型材料，作为Li和Na金属电池的固态电解质。正在开发的一系列新的Li/Na超离子导体基于（硫代）磷酸盐、硫代卤化物、氧化物和无机/聚合物复合材料。Kleinke的NSERC资助的研究中心是对更可持续的能源使用具有基本和实际意义的TE材料。在这些类别中开发新的先进材料取决于离子/电/热传导性和热功率的物理性能测量。它们需要在高密度的压制颗粒上进行，以反映内在特性。 RIHP是实现这一目标的理想选择。此外，通过RIHP制造用于固态电池的非常薄的离子传导无机膜（97%密度）对于a）使电池中的质量和体积最小化; B）抑制产生有害金属枝晶生长的晶界是必不可少的。几乎所有的固体电解质都是水分或CO2敏感的，并且不能在现有的热压机中致密化。即使以最小的空气暴露来装载结晶粉末的巨大努力，这些陶瓷的脆性也会导致在试图从压机中取出时断裂。材料加工对于抑制不想要的相的生长所需的快速固结来说也太慢。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，使用快速感应加热而不是缓慢的热加热。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下和快速加热下加工的新材料。RIHP能够局部加热，从而使晶界和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，将提供大大扩展的处理能力和快速的吞吐量。

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.