A new heating route of spark plasma sintering and its effect on alumina ceramic densification

Alumina ceramics were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS). Effects of manipulating the SPS power output on densification, microstructure and flexural strength of the obtained alumina ceramics were investigated. The results showed that use of a few discrete high amplitude units as the heating power instead of the low continuous conventional power output for heating significantly improved compaction of the alumina particles in the early stage of densification, hence more homogeneous microstructures in the consolidated materials. The better flexural strength of the resultant alumina ceramics indicated the higher efficiency of the SPS heating power rearrangement. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.