The liquid-phase sintering method was used to prepare a glass lens forming core composed of SiC-Al2O3-Y2O3. Spark plasma sintering was used to obtain dense sintered bodies. The sintering characteristics of different SiC sources and compositions of additives were studied. Results revealed that, owing to its initial larger surface area, α-SiC offers sinterability that is superior to that of β-SiC. A maximum density of 3.32 g/cm3 (theoretical density [TD] of 99.7%) was obtained in α-SiC-10 wt% (6Al2O3-4Y2O3) sintered at 1850˚C without high-energy ball milling. The maximum hardness and compression stress of the sintered body reached 2870 Hv and 1110 MPa, respectively. The optimum ultra-precision machining parameters were a grinding speed of 1243 m/min, work spindle rotation rate of 100 rpm, feed rate of 0.5 mm/min, and depth of cut of 0.2 μm. The surface roughnesses of the thus prepared final products were Ra = 4.3 nm and Rt = 55.3 nm for the aspheric lens forming core and Ra = 4.4 nm and Rt = 41.9 for the spherical lens forming core. These values were found to be sufficiently low, and the cores showed good compatibility between SiC and the diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating material. Thus, these glass lens forming cores have great potential for application in the lens industry.

The evolution of sinterability, microstructure and mechanical properties for the spark plasma sintered(SPS) Ti from commercial pure titanium(CP-Ti) was studied. The densification of titanium with 200 mesh and 400 mesh pass powder was achieved by SPS at under 10 MPa pressure and the flowing +Ar mixed gas atmosphere. The microstructure of Ti sintered up to consisted of equiaxed grains. In contrast, the growth of large elongated grains was shown in sintered bodies at with the 400 mesh pass powder and the lamella grains microstructure had been developed by increasing sintering temperature. The Vickers hardness of 240~270 HV and biaxial strength of 320~340 MPa were found for the specimen prepared at .

CoSb3 Skutterudites materials have high potential for thermoelectric application at mid-temperature range because of their superior thermoelectric properties via control of charge carrier density and substitution of foreign atoms. Improvement of thermoelectric properties is expected for the ternary solid solution developed by substitution of foreign atoms having different valances into the CoSb3 matrix. In this study, ternary solid solutions with a stoichiometry of Co1-xNixSb3 x = 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, CoSb3-yTey, y = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 were prepared by the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) system. Before the SPS synthesis, the ingots were synthesized by vacuum induction melting and followed by annealing. For phase analysis X-ray powder diffraction patterns were checked. All the samples were confirmed as single phase; however, with samples that were more doped than the solubility limit some secondary phases were detected. All the samples doped with Ni and Te atoms showed a negative Seebeck coefficient and their electrical conductivities increased with the doping amount up to the solubility limit. For the samples prepared by SPS the maximum value for dimensionless figure of merit reached 0.26, 0.42 for Co0.9Ni0.1Sb3, CoSb2.8Te0.2 at 690 K, respectively. These results show that the SPS method is effective in this system and Ni/Te dopants are also effective for increasing thermoelectric properties of this system.

In present work, amorphous TiCuNi powders were fabricated by mechanical alloying process. Amorphization and crystallization behaviors of the TiCuNi powders during high-energy ball milling and subsequent microstructure changes were studied by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope. TEM samples were prepared by the focused ion beam technique. The morphology of powders prepared with different milling times was observed by field-emission scanning electron microscope and optical microscope. The powders developed a fine, layered, homogeneous structure with milling times. The crystallization behavior showed that glass transition, , onset crystallization, , and super cooled liquid range were 628, 755 and 127K, respectively. The as-prepared amorphous TiCuNi powders were consolidated by spark plasma sintering process. Full densified TiCuNi samples were successfully produced by the spark plasma sintering process. Crystallization of the MA powders happened during sintering at 733K.

The unique features of spark plasma sintering process are the possibilities of a very fast heating rate and a short holding time to obtain fully dense materials. -SiC powder with 0, 2, 6, 10 wt% of -SiC particles (seeds) and 4 wt% of Al-B-C (sintering aids) were spark plasma sintered at for 10 min. The heating rate, applied pressure and sintering atmosphere were kept at , 40 MPa and a flowing Ar gas (500 CC/min). Microstructural development of SiC as function of seed content and temperature during spark plasma sintering was investigated quantitatively and statistically using image analysis. Quantitative image analyses on the sintered SiC ceramics were conducted on the grain size, aspect ratio and grain size distribution of SiC. The microstructure of SiC sintered up to consisted of equiaxed grains. In contrast, the growth of large elongated SiC grains in small matrix grains was shown in sintered bodies at and the plate-like grains interlocking microstructure had been developed by increasing sintering temperature. The introduction of -SiC seeds into -SiC accelerated the grain growth of elongated grains during sintering, resulting in the plate-like grains interlocking microstructure. In the -SiC seeds added in -SiC, the rate of grain growth decreased with -SiC seed content, however, bulk density and aspect ratio of grains in sintered body increased.

TiCuNiAl quaternary amorphous alloy was prepared by high-energy ball milling process. A complete amorphization was confirmed for the composition of TiCuNiAl after milling for 30hrs. Differential scanning calorimetry showed a large super-cooled liquid region (T = T T, T and T: glass transition and crystallization onset temperatures, respectively) of 80 K. Prepared amorphous powders of TiCuNiAl were consolidated by spark-plasma sintering. Densification behavior and microstructure changes were investigated. Samples sintered at higher temperature of 713 K had a nearly full density. With increasing the sintering temperature, the compressive strength increased to fracture strength of 756 MPa in the case of sintering at 733 K, which showed a 'transparticle' fracture. The samples sintered at above 693 K showed the elongation maximum above 2%.

Fe based (FeCSiBPCrMoAl) amorphous powder, which is a composition of iron blast cast slag, were produced by a gas atomization process, and sequently mixed with ductile Cu powder by a mechanical ball milling process. The Fe-based amorphous powders and the Fe-Cu composite powders were compacted by a spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. Densification of the Fe amorphous-Cu composited powders by spark plasma sintering of was occurred through a plastic deformation of the each amorphous powder and Cu phase. The SPS samples milled by AGO-2 under 500 rpm had the best homogeneity of Cu phase and showed the smallest Cu pool size. Micro-Vickers hardness of the as-SPSed specimens was changed with the milling processes.

Fe based (FeCSiBPCrMoAl) amorphous powder, which is a composition of iron blast cast slag, were produced by a gas atomization process, and sequently mixed with ductile Cu powder by a mechanical ball milling process. The experiment results show that the as-prepared Fe amorphous powders less than 90 m in size has a fully amorphous phase and its weight fraction was about 73.7%. The as-atomized amorphous Fe powders had a complete spherical shape with very clean surface. Differential scanning calorimetric results of the as-atomized Fe powders less than 90 m showed that the glass transition, T, onset crystallization, T, and super-cooled liquid range T=T-T were 512, 548 and 36, respectively. Fe amorphous powders were mixed and deformed well with 10 wt.% Cu by using AGO-2 high energy ball mill under 500 rpm.

In order to investigate the effect of rapid solidification on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of Al-Zn-Mg system alloys, water atomization was carried out, since the water atomization beared the highest solidification rate among the atomization processes. The as atomized alloy powders consisted of fine grains less than 4 in diameter, and the second particles were not detected on XRD. The microstructure as solidified was maintained even after the spark plasma sintering at the heating rate of 50 K/min. On the other hand, lower rate of 20 K/min induced a formation of particles, resulting in strengthening of the matrix. The density was almost constant at the temperature above 698K. The sintering temperature above 698K had no effect on the strength of the sintered materials.

SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) Ni-YSZ anode was fabricated by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) process and its microstructure and electrical properties were investigated in this study. The spark plasma sintering process was carried out at for holding time of 5 min under 40 MPa. To fabricate Ni-YSZ anode, the SPS processed specimens were reduced at under atmosphere. The reduced specimens showed relative density of according to sintering temperature. And also, the electrical conductivity of reduced specimens after sintering at 900 and showed (S/cm) values at the measuring range of .

This paper deals with the phase analysis of bulk using spark plasma sintering process after ball milling. Mg and amorphous B powders were used as raw materials, and milled by planetary-mill for 9 hours at argon atmosphere. In order to confirm formation of phase, DTA and XRD were used. The milled powders were fabricated to bulk at the various temperatures by Spark Plasma Sintering. The fabricated bulk was evaluated with XRD, EDS, FE-SEM and PPMS. In the DTA result, reaction on formation of phase started at . This means that ball milling process improves reactivity on formation of phase. The MgO and FeB phases were characterized from XRD result. MgO and FeB were undesirable phases which affect formation of phase, and it's distribution could be confirmed from EDS mapping result. Spark Plasma Sintered sample for 5 min at was relatively densified and it's density and transition temperature showing super conducting property were and 21K.

Fe based () amorphous powder were produced by a gas atomization process, and then ductile Cu powder fabricated by the electric explosion of wire(EEW) were mixed in the liquid (methanol) consecutively. The Fe-based amorphous - nanometallic Cu composite powders were compacted by a spark plasma sintering (SPS) processes. The nano-sized Cu powders of 200 produced by EEW in the methanol were mixed and well coated with the atomized Fe amorphous powders through the simple drying process on the hot plate. The relative density of the compacts obtained by the SPS showed over 98% and its hardness was also found to reach over 1100 Hv.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of WC-3wt% Co cemented carbides, fabricated by a sparkplasma sintering (SPS) process, were investigated in this study. The WC-3wt%Co powders were sintered at900~1100oC for 5min under 40MPa in high vacuum. The density and hardness were increased as the sinteringtemperature increased. WC-3wt%Co compacts with a relative density of 97.1% were successfully fabricated at1100oC. The fracture toughness and hardness of a compact sintered at 1100oC were 21.6MPa·m1/2 and4279Hv, respectively.

The Cu-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) composites containing Zr-based metallic glass phase have been consolidated by spark plasma sintering using the mixture of Cu-based and Zr-based metallic glass powders in their overlapped supercooled liquid region. The Zr-based metallic glass phases are well distributed homogeneously in the Cu-based metallic glass matrix after consolidation process. The successful consolidation of BMG composites with dual amorphous phases was corresponding to the sound viscous flow of the two kinds of metallic glass powders in their overlapped supercooled liquid region.

The fabrication of Fe alloy-40 wt.%TiC composite materials using spark plasma sintering process after ball-milling was studied. Raw powders to fabricate Fe alloy-TiC composite were Fe alloy, and activated carbon. Fe alloy powder was Distaloy AE (4%Ni-1%Cu-0.5%Mo-0.01%C-bal.%Fe) made by Hoeganes company with better toughness and lower melting point. These powders were ball-milled in horizontal attrition ball mill at a ball-to-powder weight ratio of 30 : 1. After that, these mixture powders were sintered by using spark plasma sintering apparatus for 5 min at in vacuum atmosphere under torr. DistaloyAE-40 wt.%TiC composite was directly synthesized by dehydrogenation and carburization reaction during sintering process. The phase transformation of as-milled powders and sintered materials was confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The density and harness materials was measured in order to confirm the densification behavior. In case of DistaloyAE-40 wt.%TiC composite retained for 5 min at , it has the relative density of about 96% through the influence of rapid densification and fine TiC particle reinforced Fe-based composites materials.

Bulk metallic glass (BMG) composite was fabricated by consolidation of milled metallic glass composite powders. The metallic glass composite powder was synthesized by a controlled milling process using the Cu-based metallic glass powder blended with 30 vol% Zr-based metallic glass powders. The milled composite powders showed a layered structure with three metallic phases, which is formed as a result of mechanical milling. By spark plasma sintering of milled metallic glass powders in the supercooled liquid region, a fully dense BMG composite was successfully synthesized.

Using Spark Plasma Sintering process (SPS), consolidation behavior of gas atomized alloys were investigated via examining the microstructure and evaluating the mechanical properties. In the atomized ahoy powders, fine particles were homogeneously distributed in the matrix. The phase distribution was maintained even after SPS at 723 K, although particles were newly precipitated by consolidating at 748 K. The density of the consolidated bulk Mg-Zn-Y alloy was . The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation were varied with the consolidation temperature.