Researcher Finds Faster, More Efficient Technique for Creating High-Density Ceramics

“This technique allows you to achieve ‘theoretical density,’ meaning it eliminates all of the porosity in the material”

A researcher from North Carolina State University has developed a technique for creating high-density ceramic materials that requires far lower temperatures than current techniques – and takes less than a second, as opposed to hours. Ceramics are used in a wide variety of technologies, including body armor, fuel cells, spark plugs, nuclear rods and superconductors.

At issue is a process known as “sintering,” which is when ceramic powders (such as zirconia) are compressed into a desired shape and exposed to high heat until the powder particles are bound together into a solid, but slightly porous, material. But new research from Dr. Jay Narayan, John C. Fan Distinguished Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at NC State, may revolutionize the sintering process.

Narayan’s new technique, selective-melt sintering, allows sintering of yttria-stabilized zirconia at 800 degrees Celsius (C) – instead of the conventional 1450 C. In addition, using the selective-melt sintering technique, it is possible to sinter zirconia at 800 C in less than a second, and create a material with no porosity at all. In contrast, traditional sintering techniques take four to five hours at 1450 C.

“This technique allows you to achieve ‘theoretical density,’ meaning it eliminates all of the porosity in the material,” Narayan says. “This increases the strength of the ceramic, as well as improving its optical, magnetic and other properties.”

The key to Narayan’s approach is the application of an electric field, at approximately 100 volts per centimeter, to the material. When this field is applied, it creates subtle changes in the material’s “grain boundaries” – where atoms from different crystals meet in the material. Namely, the field draws “defects” to the grain boundary. These defects consist of vacancies (missing atoms) which can carry charges. The defects are negatively charged and draw current from the electric field to the area – which raises the temperature along the grain boundary.