Ultrafast high-temperature sintering of ZrB2

Ultrafast high-temperature sintering (UHS) is a joule heating method with an extremely high heating rate (similar to 10(3)-10(4)degrees C/min). In this work, commercial ZrB2 powders were rapidly densified by UHS to >90% relative density within 60 s in vacuum without pressure. Bulk density improved from 75% to 93% of relative density by increasing the sintering duration from 10 to 60 s. The final grain size increases from 2.7 +/- 1.1 to 19.0 +/- 8.4 mu m when the sintering time increased from 10 to 60 s. X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy show crystalline phase and compositional uniformity in ZrB2 after UHS.

Automated summary

Ultrafast high-temperature sintering (UHS) is an effective method for rapidly densifying ZrB2 powders. The final grain size increases with longer sintering duration. X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive spectroscopy show crystalline phase and compositional uniformity in ZrB2 after UHS.