This work investigates the effects of doping on both the thermodynamics and kinetics of sintering in aluminum‐doped yttrium oxide nanoparticles (Al‐doped Y2O3), with the objective of delineating their interdependent effects at different stages of the process. Direct measurements of surface and grain boundary energies using differential scanning calorimetry showed that Al‐doping decreases both interfacial energies, leading to an increase in dihedral angle (from 152.7 ± 5.6° to 165.8 ± 5.5°) and, therefore, sintering stress. Densification and grain growth analyses showed that despite this increase in sintering stress, the onset of sintering is delayed for the Al‐doped samples, demonstrating that a large dihedral angle is a necessary but not sufficient condition for densification. The measurements of activation energies for densification and grain growth point out that Al suppresses grain boundary mobility by increasing the activation energy from 400 to 448 kJ/mol, hindering densification at the intermediate stages of sintering. At temperatures above 1150℃, grain growth is activated in the Al‐doped samples, which rapidly releases the accumulated sintering stress and exhibits a higher densification rate than in undoped Y2O3. This study demonstrates a complex interconnectivity between the thermodynamics and kinetics at different temperature ranges of sintering and reinforces the need for a comprehensive description for proper design of sintering aids.
A β‐FeSi2–SiGe nanocomposite is synthesized via a react/transform spark plasma sintering technique, in which eutectoid phase transformation, Ge alloying, selective doping, and sintering are completed in a single process, resulting in a greatly reduced process time and thermal budget. Hierarchical structuring of the SiGe secondary phase to achieve coexistence of a percolated network with isolated nanoscale inclusions effectively decouples the thermal and electrical transport. Combined with selective doping that reduces conduction band offsets, the percolation strategy produces overall electron mobilities 30 times higher than those of similar materials produced using typical powder‐processing routes. As a result, a maximum thermoelectric figure of merit
- Award ID(s):
- 1653268
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10450730
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Volume:
- 29
- Issue:
- 38
- ISSN:
- 1616-301X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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