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Evaluation of the Particle Bonding for Aluminum Sample Produced by Spark Plasma Sintering

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An Erratum to this article was published on 23 August 2016

Abstract

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a powder metallurgy process that sinters powder materials within a short time by simultaneous application of electrical current and pressure. SPS differs from other conventional powder metallurgy processes by its heating mechanism, which is Joule heating of the sample within a graphite die. This study investigates the consolidation of aluminum powder by SPS. Different pressures were used and particle bonding evaluated by means of fracture surface analysis. Electrical resistance, obtained from online monitoring of the variation of voltage and current during the process, showed an enhanced descent at 0.3 T m, and the area under this drop was associated with ductility: the greater the area, the higher the ductility. This temperature corresponds to a significant increase in the hardness ratio of the oxide layer to aluminum, where breakdown of the oxide layer becomes easier, permitting enhanced metallurgical bonding between the powder particles.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge AUTO 21 (Grant No. C502-CPM) for their financial support and the Aluminum Research Centre—REGAL. The authors would also like to thank the Council of Higher Education of Turkey and Marmara University for scholarships to Mr. Tünçay.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 0C5, Canada

    Mehmet Masum Tünçay, Lucie Nguyen, Philippe Hendrickx & Mathieu Brochu

  2. Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Marmara University, 34722, Goztepe, Istanbul, Turkey

    Mehmet Masum Tünçay

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  1. Mehmet Masum Tünçay
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  2. Lucie Nguyen
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Correspondence to Mathieu Brochu.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11665-016-2300-4.

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Tünçay, M.M., Nguyen, L., Hendrickx, P. et al. Evaluation of the Particle Bonding for Aluminum Sample Produced by Spark Plasma Sintering. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 25, 4521–4528 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-016-2275-1

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