Researchers at the University of Rostock, Germany, have developed a new way to produce high strength metallic alloys at a lower cost and with less energy. Led by Dr. Eberhard Burkel, Professor of Physics, researchers demonstrated that rapidly cooling a material directly after spark plasma sintering (SPS) fabrication can enhance hardness, strength, and ductility.
The new rapid cooling SPS system is based on a commercially available design, modified to include a series of gas inlet nozzles. After sintering, most SPS systems are left to cool naturally, or are flooded with argon gas. The new system blasts nitrogen gas into the chamber at high speeds, rapidly cooling the alloy.
The research, which appears in Materials Today, reports on the first SPS system with an integrated gas quenching mechanism that is capable of alternating phase compositions and retaining the smallest grain features inside a structured metallic alloy.
SPS is a technique used to fuse fine powders into a dense solid material by placing powder into a mold (or die) and simultaneously applying pulses of electric current and mechanical pressure. By varying cooling rates, it is possible to control the phase and grain sizes, thereby tuning mechanical properties.
