A general method to synthesize and sinter bulk ceramics in seconds

By Chengwei Wang, Weiwei Ping, Qiang Bai, Huachen Cui, Ryan Hensleigh, Ruiliu Wang, Alexandra H. Brozena, Zhenpeng Xu, J. Dai, Yong Pei and 12 more. Science, 2020

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Speedy ceramic sintering Synthesizing ceramics can require heating for long times at high temperatures, making the screening of high-through-put materials challenging. C. Wang et al. developed a new ceramic-sintering technique that uses resistive heating of thin carbon strips to ramp up and ramp down temperature quickly. This method allows for the quick synthesis of a wide variety of ceramics while mitigating the loss of volatile elements. Ultrafast sintering is ideal for synthesizing many compositions to screen for ideal properties for a variety of applications, including the development of new solid-state electrolytes. Science, this issue p. 521 A resistive heating method can sinter ceramics in seconds, allowing for high-throughput materials screening. Ceramics are an important class of materials with widespread applications because of their high thermal, mechanical, and chemical stability. Computational predictions based on first principles methods can be a valuable tool in accelerating materials discovery to develop improved ceramics. It is essential to experimentally confirm the material properties of such predictions. However, materials screening rates are limited by the long processing times and the poor compositional control from volatile element loss in conventional ceramic sintering techniques. To overcome these limitations, we developed an ultrafast high-temperature sintering (UHS) process for the fabrication of ceramic materials by radiative heating under an inert atmosphere. We provide several examples of the UHS process to demonstrate its potential utility and applications, including advancements in solid-state electrolytes, multicomponent structures, and high-throughput materials screening.

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Materials Chemistry

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2529939ab0ceeb5fbed9d31679670d55eb5c2d21