Towards the design and optimization of sintering aided by electric current for high melting point materials

摘要

Sintering aided by electrical current offers the advantage of accelerated densification for a number of powders. In this work, we employ numerical simulations along with experiments to understand the distribution of current and temperature within the punch/die/compact assembly. The focus of this work is the identification and optimization of energy losses in the system. A coupled thermal-electrical finite element model is utilized with thermal and electrical properties that vary with temperature. A study of electrical contact resistance was carried out in order to elucidate its role on the temperature and current evolution and power consumption in the system.