In this study, Fe-Cu-Ni-Mo-C low alloy steel powder is consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The internal structure and the surface fracture behavior are studied using field-emission scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy techniques. The bulk samples are polished and etched in order to observe the internal structure. The sample sintered at 900oC with holding time of 10 minutes achieves nearly full density of 98.9% while the density of the as-received conventionally sintered product is 90.3%. The fracture microstructures indicate that the sample prepared at 900oC by the SPS process is hard to break out because of the presence of both grain boundaries and internal particle fractures. Moreover, the lamellar pearlite structure is also observed in this sample. The samples sintered at 1000 and 1100oC exhibit a large number of tiny particles and pores due to the melting of Cu and aggregation of the alloy elements during the SPS process. The highest hardness value of 296.52 HV is observed for the sample sintered at 900oC with holding time of 10 minutes.

Composite materials consisting of pure aluminum matrix reinforced with different amounts of graphite particles are successfully fabricated by mechanical ball milling and spark plasma sintering (SPS) processes. The shrinkage rates of the composite powders vary with the amount of graphite particles and the lowest shrinkage value is observed for the composite with the highest amount of graphite particles. The current slopes of time increase with increase in the amount of graphite particles whereas the current slopes of temperature show the opposite trend. The highest thermal conductivity is achieved for the composite with the least amount of graphite particles. Therefore, the thermal properties of the composite materials can be controlled by controlling the amount of the graphite particles during the SPS process.

Microstructural examination of the Nb-Si-B alloys at Nb-rich compositions is performed. The Nb-rich corner of the Nb-Si-B system is favorable in that the constituent phases are Nb (ductile and tough phase with high melting temperature) and T2 phase (very hard intermetallic compound with favorable oxidation resistance) which are good combination for high temperature structural materials. The samples containing compositions near Nb-rich corner of the Nb- Si-B ternary system are prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process using T2 and Nb powders. T2 bulk phase is made in arc furnace by melting the Nb slug and the Si-B powder compact. The T2 bulk phase was subsequently ballmilled to powders. SPS is performed at 1300oC and 1400oC, depending on the composition, under 30 MPa for 600s, to produce disc-shaped specimen with 15 mm in diameter and 3 mm high. Hardness tests (Rockwell A-scale and micro Vickers) are carried out to estimate the mechanical property.

Two sintering methods of a pressureless sintering and a spark-plasma sintering are tested to densify the Fe-TiC composite powders which are fabricated by high-energy ball-milling. A powder mixture of Fe and TiC is prepared in a planetary ball mill at a rotation speed of 500 rpm for 1h. Pressureless sintering is performed at 1100, 1200 and 1300oC for 1-3 hours in a tube furnace under flowing argon gas atmosphere. Spark-plasma sintering is carried out under the following condition: sintering temperature of 1050oC, soaking time of 10 min, sintering pressure of 50 MPa, heating rate of 50oC, and in a vacuum of 0.1 Pa. The curves of shrinkage and its derivative (shrinkage rate) are obtained from the data stored automatically during sintering process. The densification behaviors are investigated from the observation of fracture surface and cross-section of the sintered compacts. The pressureless-sintered powder compacts show incomplete densification with a relative denstiy of 86.1% after sintering at 1300oC for 3h. Spark-plasma sintering at 1050oC for 10 min exhibits nearly complete densification of 98.6% relative density under the sintering pressure of 50 MPa.

In this study, ternary compound Max Phase Ti2AlC material was mixed by 3D ball milling as a function of ball milling time. More than 99.5 wt% pure Ti2AlC was synthesized by using spark plasma sintering method at 1000, 1100, 1200, and 1300oC for 60 min. The material characteristics of synthesized samples were examined with relative density, hardness, and electrical conductivity as a function of sintering temperature. The phase composition of bulk was identified by X-ray diffraction. On the basis of FE-SEM result, a terraced structures which consists of several laminated layers were observed. And Ti2AlC bulk material obtained a vickers hardness of 5.1 GPa at the sintering temperature of 1100oC.

SKD11 (ASTM D2) tool steel is a versatile high-carbon, high-chromium, air-hardening tool steel that is characterized by a relatively high attainable hardness and numerous, large, chromium rich alloy carbide in the microstructure. SKD11 tool steel provides an effective combination of wear resistance and toughness, tool performance, price, and a wide variety of product forms. Adding of CNTs increased the performance of mechanical properties more. 1, 3 vol% CNTs was dispersed in SKD11 matrix by mechanical alloying. SKD11 carbon nanocomposite powder was sintered by spark plasma sintering process. FE-SEM, HR-TEM and Raman analysis were carried out for the SKD11 carbon nanocomposites.

Effect of oxygen content in the ultrafine tungsten powder fabricated by electrical explosion of wire method on the behvior of spark plasma sintering was investigated. The initial oxygen content of 6.5 wt% of as-fabricated tungsten powder was reduced to 2.3 and 0.7 wt% for the powders which were reduction-treated at 400˚C for 2 hour and at 500˚C for 1h in hydrogen atmosphere, respectively. The reduction-treated tungsten powders were spark-plasma sintered at 1200-1600˚C for 100-3600 sec. with applied pressure of 50 MPa under vacuum of 0.133 Pa. Maximun sindered density of 97% relative density was obtained under the condition of 1600˚C for 1h from the tungsten powder with 0.7 wt% oxygen. Sintering activation energy of 95.85kJ/mol-1 was obtained, which is remarkably smaller than the reported ones of 380~460kJ/mol-1 for pressureless sintering of micron-scale tungsten powders.

Fe-TiC composite powder was fabricated by high-energy milling of powder mixture of (Fe, TiC) and (FeO, TiH2, C) as starting materials, respectively. The latter one was heat-treated for reaction synthesis of TiC phase after milling. Both powders were spark-plasma sintered at various temperatures of 680-1070℃ for 10 min. with sintering pressure of 70 MPa and the heating rate of 50℃/min. under vacuum of 0.133 Pa. Density and hardness of the sintered compact was investigated. Fe-TiC composite fabricated from (FeO, TiH2, C) as starting materials showed better sintered properties. It seems to be resulted from ultra-fine TiC particle size and its uniform distribution in Fe-matrix compared to the simply mixed (Fe, TiC) powder.

A magnetic powder, M-type barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19), was consolidated with the spark plasma sin-tering process. Three different holding temperatures, 850℃, 875℃ and 900℃ were applied to the spark plasma sinteringprocess with the same holding times, heating rates and compaction pressure of 30 MPa. The relative density was mea-sured simultaneously with spark plasma sintering and the convergent relative density after cooling was found to be pro-portional to the holding temperature. The full relative density was obtained at 900℃ and the total sintering time wasonly 33.3 min, which was much less than the conventional furnace sintering method. The higher holding temperaturealso led to the higher saturation magnetic moment (σs) and the higher coercivity (Hc) in the vibrating sample magne-tometer measurement. The saturation magnetic moment (σs) and the coercivity (Hc) obtained at 900℃ were 56.3 emu/g and541.5 Oe for each.

The 304 stainless steel powders were prepared by high energy ball milling and subsequently sintered byspark plasma sintering, and the microstructural characteristics and micro-hardness were investigated. The initial size ofthe irregular shaped 304 stainless steel powders was approximately 42 µm. After high energy ball milling at 800 rpmfor 5h, the powders became spherical with a size of approximately 2 µm, and without formation of reaction compounds.From TEM analysis, it was confirmed that the as-milled powders consisted of the aggregates of the nano-sized particles.As the sintering temperature increased from 1073K to 1573K, the relative density and micro-hardness of sintered sampleincreased. The sample sintered at 1573K showed the highest relative density of approximately 95% and a micro-hard-ness of 550 Hv.

In this study, we report the sintering behavior and properties of a Ge2Sb2Te5 alloy powders for use as asputtering target by spark plasma sintering. The effect of various sintering parameters, such as pressure, temperature andtime, on the density and hardness of the target has been investigated in detail. Structural characterization was performedby scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Hardness and thermal properties were measured by differentialscanning calorimetry and micro-vickers hardness tester. The density and hardness of the sintered Ge2Sb2Te5 materialswere 5.8976~6.3687 g/cm3 and 32~75 Hv, respectively.

Titanium and its alloys are useful for implant materials. In this study, porous Ti-Nb-Zr biomaterials were successfully synthesized by powder metallurgy using a NH4HCO3 as space holder and TiH2 as foaming agent. Consolidation of powder was accomplished by spark plasma sintering process(SPS) at 850˚C under 30 MPa condition. The effect of high energy milling time on pore size and distribution in Ti-Nb-Zr alloys with space holder(NH4HCO3) was investigated by optical microscope(OM), scanning electron microscope(SEM) & energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS) and X-ray diffraction(XRD). Microstructure observation revealed that, a lot of pores were uniformly distributed in the Ti-Nb-Zr alloys as size of about 30-100μm using mixed powder and milled powders. In addition, the pore ratio was found to be about 5-20% by image analysis, using an image analyzer(Image Pro Plus). Furthermore, the physical properties of specimens were improved with increasing milling time as results of hardness, relative density, compressive strength and Young's modulus. Particularly Young's modulus of the sintered alloy using 4h milled powder reached 52 GPa which is similar to bone elastic modulus.

Microstructural and mechanical properties of Ni-YSZ fabricated using SPS processing have been investigated at various sintering temperatures. Our study shows samples to be applied as a SOFC anode have the proper porosity of 40% and high hardness when processed at 1100ºC. These results are comparable to the values obtained at 100- 200ºC higher sintering temperature reported by others. This result is important because when the fabrication processes are performed above 1100ºC, the mechanical property starts to decrease drastically. This is caused by the fast grain coarsening at the higher temperature, which initiates a mismatch between thermal expansion coefficients of Ni and YSZ and induces cracks as well.

Fe-TiC composite was fabricated from Fe and TiC powders by high-energy milling and subsequent spark- plasma sintering. The microstructure, particle size and phase of Fe-TiC composite powders were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction to evaluate the effect of milling conditions on the size and distribution of TiC particles in Fe matrix. TiC particle size decreased with milling time. The average TiC particle size of 38 nm was obtained after 60 minutes of milling at 1000 rpm. Prepared Fe-TiC powder mixture was densified by spark- plasma sintering. Sintered Fe-TiC compacts showed a relative density of 91.7~96.2%. The average TiC particle size of 150 nm was observed from the FE-SEM image. The microstructure, densification behavior, Vickers hardness, and frac- ture toughness of Fe-TiC sintered compact were investigated.

The Ti-6Al-4V extra low interstitial (ELI) alloy has been widely used as an orthopedic implant material because of its excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility. However, it still has many problems, including a high elastic modulus and toxicity of the Al and V elements. Therefore, non-toxic biomaterials with a low elastic modulus need to be developed. A high energy mechanical milling (HEMM) process is introduced to improve the effect of sintering. Rapid sintering of spark plasma sintering (SPS) under pressure was used to make an ultra fine grain of Ti-25 wt.%Nb-7 wt.%Zr-10 wt.%Mo-(10 wt.%CPP) composites with bio-attractive elements for increasing strength. These composites were fabricated by SPS at 1000˚C at 60 MPa using HEMM powders. During the sintering process, CaTiO3, TixOy, and CaO were formed because of the reaction between Ti and CPP. The effects of CPP content on the physical and mechanical properties of the sintered Ti-Nb-Zr-Mo-CPP composites were investigated. The biocompatibility and corrosion resistance of the Ti-Nb-Zr-Mo alloys were improved by the addition of CPP.

A bulk metallic glass-forming alloy, metallic glass powders was used for good commercial availability and good formability in supercooled liquid region. In this study, the Ni-based metallic glass was synthesized using by high pressure gas atomized metallic glass powders. In order to create a bulk metallic glass sample, the metallic glass powders with ball-milled Ni-based amorphous powder with 40%vol brass powder and Cu powder for 20 hours. The composite specimens were prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering for the precursor. The SPS was performed at supercooled liquid region of Ni-based metallic glass. The amorphous structure of the final sample was characterized by SEM, X-ray diffraction and DSC analysis.

Bismuth antimony telluride (BiSbTe) thermoelectric materials were successfully prepared by a spark plasma sintering process. Crystalline BiSbTe ingots were crushed into small pieces and then attrition milled into fine powders of about 300 nm ~ 2μm size under argon gas. Spark plasma sintering was applied on the BiSbTe powders at 240, 320, and 380˚C, respectively, under a pressure of 40 MPa in vacuum. The heating rate was 50˚C/min and the holding time at the sintering temperature was 10 min. At all sintering temperatures, high density bulk BiSbTe was successfully obtained. The XRD patterns verify that all samples were well matched with the Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3. Seebeck coefficient (S), electric conductivity (σ) and thermal conductivity (k) were evaluated in a temperature range of 25~300˚C. The thermoelectric properties of BiSbTe were evaluated by the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT (ZT = S2σT/k). The grain size and electric conductivity of sintered BiSbTe increased as the sintering temperature increased but the thermal conductivity was similar at all sintering temperatures. Grain growth reduced the carrier concentration, because grain growth reduced the grain boundaries, which serve as acceptors. Meanwhile, the carrier mobility was greatly increased and the electric conductivity was also improved. Consequentially, the grains grew with increasing sintering temperature and the figure of merit was improved.

Magnetic properties and the microstructures of magnets prepared by spark plasma sintering were investigated in order to enhance magnetic properties by grain size control. Nd-Fe-B magnets were fabricated by the spark plasma sintering under 30 MPa at various temperatures. The grain size was effectively controlled by the spark plasma sintering and it was possible to make Nd-Fe-B magnets with grain size of 5.9 .

A Li2O-2SiO2 (LS2) glass was investigated as a lithium-ion conducting oxide glass, which is applicable to a fast ionic conductor even at low temperature due to its high mechanical strength and chemical stability. The Li2O-2SiO2 glass is likely to be broken into small pieces when quenched; thus, it is difficult to fabricate a specifically sized sample. The production of properly sized glass samples is necessary for device applications. In this study, we applied spark plasma sintering (SPS) to fabricate LS2 glass samples which have a particular size as well as high transparency. The sintered samples, 15mmφ×2mmT in size, (LS2-s) were produced by SPS between 480˚C and 500˚C at 45MPa for 3~5mim, after which the thermal and dielectric properties of the LS2-s samples were compared with those of quenched glass (LS2-q) samples. Thermal behavior, crystalline structure, and electrical conductivity of both samples were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and an impedance/gain-phase analyzer, respectively. The results showed that the LS2-s had an amorphous structure, like the LS2-q sample, and that both samples took on the lithium disilicate structure after the heat treatment at 800˚C. We observed similar dielectric peaks in both of the samples between room temperature and 700˚C. The DC activation energies of the LS2-q and LS2-s samples were 0.48±0.05eV and 0.66±0.04eV, while the AC activation energies were 0.48±0.05eV and 0.68±0.04eV, respectively.

The p-type thermoelectric compounds of based doped with 3wt% Te were fabricated by a combination of rapid solidification and spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The effect of holding time during spark plasma sintering (SPS) on the microstructure and thermoelectric properties were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermoelectric properties. The powders as solidified consisted of homogeneous thermoelectric phases. The thermoelectric figure of merit measured to be maximum () at the SPS temperature of .