YAG (Yttrium Aluminum Garnet, Y3Al5O12) has excellent plasma resistance and recently has been used as an alternative to Y2O3 as a chamber coating material in the semiconductor process. However, due to the presence of an impurity phase and difficulties in synthesis and densification, many studies on YAG are being conducted. In this study, YAG powder is synthesized by an organic-inorganic complex solution synthesis method using PVA polymer. The PVA solution is added to the sol in which the metal nitrate salts are dissolved, and the precursor is calcined into a porous and soft YAG powder. By controlling the molecular weight and the amount of PVA polymer, the effect on the particle size and particle shape of the synthesized YAG powder is evaluated. The sintering behavior of the YAG powder compact according to PVA type and grinding time is studied through an examination of its microstructure. Single phase YAG is synthesized at relatively low temperature of 1,000 ℃ and can be pulverized to sub-micron size by ball milling. In addition, sintered YAG with a relative density of about 98 % is obtained by sintering at 1,650 ℃.

Selective laser melting (SLM) can produce a layer of a metal powder and then fabricate a three-dimensional structure by a layer-by-layer method. Each layer consists of several lines of molten metal. Laser parameters and thermal properties of the materials affect the geometric characteristics of the melt pool such as its height, depth, and width. The geometrical characteristics of the melt pool are determined herein by optical microscopy and three-dimensional bulk structures are fabricated to investigate the relationship between them. Powders of the commercially available Fe-based tool steel AISI H13 and Ni-based superalloy Inconel 738LC are used to investigate the effect of material properties. Only the scan speed is controlled to change the laser parameters. The laser power and hatch space are maintained throughout the study. Laser of a higher energy density is seen to melt a wider and deeper range of powder and substrate; however, it does not correspond with the most highly densified three-dimensional structure. H13 shows the highest density at a laser scan speed of 200 mm/s whereas Inconel 738LC shows the highest density at 600 mm/s.

This study investigated the densification behavior of rhenium alloys including W-25 wt.%Re and Re-2W-1Ta (pure Re) during sintering. The dilatometry experiments were carried out to obtain the in-situ shrinkage in H2 atmo-sphere. The measured data was analyzed through shrinkage, strain rate and relative density, and then symmetricallytreated to construct the linearized form of master sintering curve (MSC) and MSC as a well-known and straightforwardapproach to describe the densification behavior during sintering. The densification behaviors for each material were ana-lyzed in many respects including apparent activation energy, densification parameter, and densification ratio. MSC witha minimal set of preliminary experiments can make the densification behavior to be characterized and predicted as wellas provide guideline to sinter cycle design. Considering the results of linearized form and MSC, it was confirmed thatthe W-25 wt.%Re compared to Pure Re is more easily densified at the relatively low temperature.

In order to increase the toughness of ZTA(zirconia toughened alumina) ceramics, the present study focused on rearrangement and densification of particles according to the particle size of the parent material. When rough alumina was used for production of ZTA, densification behavior was observed in the specimen sintered at a temperature over 1550˚C. However, it was found that the densification behavior was occurred in the specimen sintered at 1450˚C when fine alumina powder was used. High relative density exceeding 98% was obtained when fine alumina powder was mixed with 15 wt% of 3Y-TZP and sintered at 1600˚C. Also, a hardness of 1820.2 Hv was obtained when a specimen containing 10 wt% of 3Y-TZP was sintered at 1600˚C. In the case of 3Y-TZP containing rough alumina powder that had been sintered the hardness value was around 1720.3 Hv. It was predicted that an improved toughening effect in ZTA could be achieved by using finer alumina powder as the parent material.

Numerical simulations of the powder extrusion need an appropriate pressure-dependent constitutive model for densification modeling of the magnesium powders. The present research investigated the effect of representative powder yield function of the critical relative density model. We could obtain reasonable physical properties of pure magnesium powders using cold isostatic pressing. The proposed densification model was implemented into the finite element code. The finite element analysis was applied to simulation of powder extrusion of pure magnesium powder in order to investigate the densification and processing load at room temperature.

In this study, bottom-up powder processing and top-down severe plastic deformation processing approaches were combined in order to achieve both full density and grain refinement with least grain growth. The numerical modeling of the powder process requires the appropriate constitutive model for densification of the powder materials. The present research investigates the effect of representative powder yield function of the Shima-Oyane model and the critical relative density model. It was found that the critical relative density model is better than the Shima-Oyane model for powder densification behavior, especially for initial stage.

Nanostructured metallic materials are synthesized by bottom-up processing which starts with powders for assembling bulk materials or top-down processing starting with a bulk solid. A representative bottom-up and top-down paths for bulk nanostructured/ultrafine grained metallic materials are powder consolidation and severe plastic deformation (SPD) methods, respectively. In this study, the bottom-up powder and top-down SPD approaches were combined in order to achieve both full density and grain refinement without grain growth, which were considered as a bottle neck of the bottom-up method using conventional powder metallurgy of compaction and sintering. For the powder consolidation, equal channel angular pressing (ECAP), one of the most promising method in SPD, was used. The ECAP processing associated with stress developments was investigated. ECAP for powder consolidation were numerically analyzed using the finite element method (FEM) in conjunction with pressure and shear stress.

The effects of compaction pressure and sintering temperature on the densification of Fe-40wt%Ni alloy nanoparticles were analyzed. The Fe-Ni nanoparticles were fabricated by an arc-discharge method and then, compacted at three different pressures and sintered at 550 to . Densification was completed at temperature as low as and high-pressure compaction was found to enhance densification. Densification behaviors and microstructure developments have been investigated through density measurements, electron microscopies, and hardness measurements.

Densification behavior of nano-agglomerate powder during pressureless sintering of Fe-Ni nanopowder was investigated in terms of diffusion kinetics and microstructural development. To understand the role of agglomerate boundary for sintering process, densification kinetics of Fe-Ni nano-agglomerate powder with different agglomerate size was investigated. It was found that activation energy for densification was lower in the small-sized agglomerate powder. The increase in the volume fraction of inter-agglomerate boundary acting as high diffusion path might be responsible for the enhanced diffusion process.

Densification behavior of iron powder under cold stepped compaction was studied. Experimental data were also obtained for iron powder under cold stepped compaction. The elastoplastic constitutive equation based on the yield function of Shima and Oyane was implemented into a finite element program (ABAQUS) to simulate compaction responses of iron powder during cold stepped compaction. Finite element results were compared with experimental data for densification, deformed geometry and density distribution.

Densification behavior of various metal and ceramic powder was investigated under cold compaction. The Cap model was proposed based on the parameters obtained from axial and radial deformation of sintered metal powder compacts under uniaxial compression and volumetric strain evolution. For ceramic powder, the parameters were obtained from deformation of green powder compacts under triaxial compression. The Cap model was implemented into a finite element program (ABAQUS) to compare with experimental data for densification behavior of various metal and ceramic powder under cold compaction.

In the study, a hybrid constitutive model for densification of metallic powders was applied to cold isostatic pressing. The model is based on a pressure-dependent plasticity model for porous materials combined with a dislocation density-based viscoplastic constitutive model considering microstructural features such as grain size and inter-particle spacing. Comparison of experiment and calculated results of microscale and nanoscale Cu powders was made. This theoretical approach is useful for powder densification analysis of various powder sizes, deformation routes and powder processing methods.

Mechanically-alloyed NiAl powder was sintered by Spark-Plasma Sintering (SPS) process. Densification and behavior mechanical property were determined from the experimental results and analysis ,such as changes in linear shrinkage, shrinkage rate, microstructure, and phase during sintering process, Victors hardness, and transver.ie-rupture-strength (TRS). Above 97% relative density was obtained after sintering at 115 for 5 min. Crystallite size determined by the Scherrer method was approximately 50 nm. From the X-ray diffraction analysis it was confirmed that the sintered bodies were composed mainly of NiAl phase together with NiAl phase. Measured Vickers hardness and TRS value were 55510 and 139375 MPa , respectively.

Spark-Plasma Sintering(SPS) is one of the new sintering methods which takes advantages both inconventional pressure sintering and electric current sintering. It is known that SPS is very effective for the densification of hard-to-sinter materials like refractory metals, intermetallic compounds, glass and ceramics without grain growth. However, a clear explanation for sintering mechanism and an experimental evidence for the formation of weak plasma during SPS are not given yet. In this study, fundamental study on sintering behavior and mechanism of SPS was investiged. For this study, various spherical Fe powders were prepared such as as-received, as-reduced, and as-oxidized and then sintered by SPS facility. In order to confirm the surface cleaning effect during SPS neck region and fracture surface of sintered body was observed and analyzed by SEM/EPMA. Densification behavior was analyzed from the data of deflection along the pressure axis. Some specimens were additionally produced by Hot Pressing and the results were compared with those of SPS.

The activated sintering behavior of powder compacts with addition of 0.5 and 1.0 wt.%Ni during the sintering under As atmosphere was studied. The shrinkage was measured and the microstructures were observed by SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and BEI (backscattered electron image) along with the phase analysis by EDS during heating up to 155 and holding for various time at 155. The most of shrinkage occurred upon heating and 92% of theoretical density was attained after sintering for 1 hr at 155. However, little shrinkage ensued even for prolonged sintering over 1 hr at 155. A liquid film formed at about 135 along necks and grain boundaries. The polyhedral grain structure composed of and across the grain boundary developed at 155. It was concluded that the activated sintering of powder by Ni led to the diffusion of Si into Ni decreasing the liquidus temperature and the enhanced diffusion of Mo and Si through such a liquid phase and/or interboundary of .

Densification behavior and grain growth of tool steel powder compacts during pressureless sintering, sinter forging, and hot isostatic pressing were investigated. Experimental data were compared with results of finite element calculations by using the constitutive model of Abouaf and co-workers and that of McMeeking and co-workers. Densification and deformation of tool steel powder compacts were studied by implementing power-law creep, diffusional creep, and grain growth into the finite element analysis. The shape change of a powder compact in the container during hot isostatic pressing was also studied. The theoretical models did not agree well with experimental data in sinter forging, however, agreed well with experimental data in hot isostatic pressing.