Zinc oxide densification mechanisms occurring during the cold sintering process (CSP) are examined by investigating specifically the effects of ion concentration in solution, temperature, pressure, and die sealing. The experiments suggest that mass transport through solution is a primary densification mechanism and that either a pre‐loaded solution or grain dissolution can supply migrating ions. Additionally, results indicate cold sintering zinc oxide requires a critical pressure value, above which densification is relatively pressure independent under the majority of process conditions. This critical pressure is related to thermal expansion of the liquid and determines the uniaxial pressure threshold for densification. The data supports a three‐stage interpretation of cold sintering, which includes quick compaction, grain rearrangement, and dissolution‐reprecipitation events. Further, it is observed that under the lowest temperature conditions a net decrease in particle size can occur during the cold sintering process.
This paper describes a sintering technique for ceramics and ceramic‐based composites, using water as a transient solvent to effect densification (i.e. sintering) at temperatures between room temperature and 200 °C. To emphasize the incredible reduction in sintering temperature relative to conventional thermal sintering this new approach is named the “Cold Sintering Process” (CSP). Basically CSP uses a transient aqueous environment to effect densification by a mediated dissolution–precipitation process. CSP of NaCl, alkali molybdates and V2O5with small concentrations of water are described in detail, but the process is extended and demonstrated for a diverse range of chemistries (oxides, carbonates, bromides, fluorides, chlorides and phosphates), multiple crystal structures, and multimaterial applications. Furthermore, the properties of selected CSP samples are demonstrated to be essentially equivalent as samples made by conventional thermal sintering.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10032516
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Angewandte Chemie
- Volume:
- 128
- Issue:
- 38
- ISSN:
- 0044-8249
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 11629-11633
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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