Production of Ceramic Based Composites by Flash Sintering
Chapter from the book:
Boztoprak,
Y.
(ed.)
2023.
Composite Materials with Different Engineering Approaches- II.
Synopsis
A composite material consists of the distribution of fillers and reinforcements in a matrix in an order determined by the properties essential for the use area. In general, composites are produced from two or more phases that differ from each other in terms of physical and/or chemical properties, and therefore, the production methods should be selected in accordance with the primary matrix material as well as the other phase groups it contains. Sintering is the condensation of powder by heating. There are different diffusion mechanisms during sintering. Since heat-only techniques require relatively high temperatures and long times for many material groups, it has a detrimental effect on the grain growth of the material and, therefore, its physical properties. With this motivation, pressure and electric field-assisted sintering techniques are also intensively researched. Flash sintering is an electric field-assisted sintering method. In this technique, the electric field is applied directly to the material, and remarkable reductions in sintering temperature and time have been observed. Although the technique has been conducted for variable systems, its use in composite materials has mainly started with the addition of conductivity-enhancing additives to materials with low electrical conductivity. In this section, firstly, flash sintering is explained, and then the studies on the production of composite materials by flash sintering in the literature are compiled. This section will be an important resource for researchers who work on the densification of composite materials and who are interested in electric field assisted sintering.