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Flash Spark Plasma Sintering of SiC: Impact of Additives

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Abstract

Flash spark plasma sintering (FSPS) of SiC was carried out using additives (10 vol%) with different electrical conductivities: alumina (insulator), boron carbide (semiconductor), and titanium carbide metallic (conductor). The electrical conductivity of the additives plays a determinant role on the FSPS process, it controls the electrical SPS power dissipation, the development of gaseous/liquids/solid phases and time needed to complete densification. The microstructure of FSPSed SiC samples confirmed localized heating in the case of Al2O3 additive, resulting in undesired carbothermal reduction and formation of gaseous species. In the presence of TiC additive, solid state sintering led to SiC sublimation without achieving a complete densification. The presence of B4C as an additive led to a liquid phase formation, which promoted sintering contributing and the densification of the samples. The present study rationalizes the selection FSPS sintering additives based on their electrical and chemical compatibility with the SiC matrix.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, India

    Sandan Kumar Sharma

  2. Institute of Materials Research, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Watsonova 47, Košice, Slovakia

    Martin Fides & Pavol Hvizdoš

  3. School of Engineering and Material Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Michael J. Reece

  4. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China

    Salvatore Grasso

Authors
  1. Sandan Kumar Sharma
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  2. Martin Fides
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  3. Pavol Hvizdoš
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  4. Michael J. Reece
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  5. Salvatore Grasso
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Contributions

Writing- original draft preparation and analysis: [Dr. Sandan Kumar Sharma]

Experimental Methodology: [Dr. Martin Fides]

Conceptualization and corrections: [Dr. Pavol Hvizdoš],

Conceptualization and corrections in draft: [Dr. Michael J. Reece];

Conceptualization and experimental: [Dr. Salvatore Grasso]

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sandan Kumar Sharma.

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Sharma, S.K., Fides, M., Hvizdoš, P. et al. Flash Spark Plasma Sintering of SiC: Impact of Additives. Silicon 14, 7377–7382 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01407-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-021-01407-7

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