Engineering Conferences International ECI Digital Archives Electric Field Assisted Sintering and Related Phenomena Far From Equilibrium Proceedings Winter 3-10-2016 Field effects during consolidation of metallic powders Brandon McWilliams US Army Research Laboratory, brandon.a.mcwilliams.civ@mail.mil Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.engconfintl.org/efa_sintering Part of the Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Brandon McWilliams, "Field effects during consolidation of metallic powders" in "Electric Field Assisted Sintering and Related Phenomena Far From Equilibrium", Rishi Raj (University of Colorado at Boulder, USA) Thomas Tsakalakos (Rutgers University, USA) Eds, ECI Symposium Series, (2016). http://dc.engconfintl.org/efa_sintering/46 This Abstract and Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the Proceedings at ECI Digital Archives. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electric Field Assisted Sintering and Related Phenomena Far From Equilibrium by an authorized administrator of ECI Digital Archives. For more information, please contact franco@bepress.com.
UNCLASSIFIED Field effects during consolidation of metallic powders Brandon McWilliams and Jian Yu Army Research Laboratory, Weapons & Materials Research Directorate, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD brandon.a.mcwilliams.civ@mail.mil UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED,, Distribution Distribution A: A: Approved Approved for for public public release, distribution is unlimited Electric Field Assisted Sintering and Related Phenomena Far From Equilibrium March 6-11, 2016 Tomar, Portugal
Research Objectives Develop an in situ methodology to investigate sintering kinetics of powder compacts under the influence of an applied field. Challenges Develop understanding of underlying mechanisms contributing to mass transport at the grain scale; develop field enhanced constitutive models for process modeling of sintering kinetics UNCLASSIFIED In situ determination of enhanced sintering kinetics due to applied fields Impact Exploit field enhancement(s) for net shape manufacturing of next generation ceramics and metals; enhanced process models for virtual manufacturing to promote rapid transition of technologies to Warfighter B. McWilliams, J. Yu, and A. Zavaliangos, Fully coupled thermal electric sintering simulation of electric field assisted sintering of net shape compacts, J. Mat. Sci. 50 (2015) 519 530.
What is flash sintering? 120V/cm DC field @ 850 o C Several hours at 1450 required without field FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF PHENOMENA NOT UNDERSTOOD! Dielectric breakdown, conductivity f(t), photoemission, electromigration, Joule heating,...??
Relation to SPS/FAST processing SPS current, heat, pressure Complex! But it works! Ability to sinter difficult materials and at lower temps Why? TBD! Mechanisms poorly understood for metals and ceramics GOAL: Answer: What is the effect of the electric field? Design controlled experiment to determine and quantify effect of electric field and/or electric current on sintering kinetics and microstructure evolution Spark plasma sintering, electric field assisted sintering, etc Non-uniform distribution of current and temperature Controlled current path NO stress/pressure Uniform heating Method Typical aplied Typical voltage Typical E field across current across specimen specimen Field assisted sintering 1000s of A 1 10V < 10 V/cm Flash sintering ma to A 100 1000V 100s to 1000s V/cm
Flash sintering processing infrastructure Furnace DC power supply Max: 120V, 3A Optical camera FLIR IR camera Full field DIC strain measurement, temperature (furnace thermocouple close to sample, and electric current. FLIR IR camera (optional) for full field sample temperature and high temperature DIC strain measurements
Innovative metal powder processing using applied DC fields Aluminum 5083 Cold Isostatic Pressed (CIP) 72 and 138 MPa to study effect of starting green density/microstructure 10 ksi, 4 o C/min to 550 o C, hold for 90 min Argon atmosphere In-situ strain using optical DIC 20 ksi, Starting density NO Current Heating rate Max temp ( o C/min) ( o C) Hold time (min) 10 ksi 4 550 90 20 ksi 4 550 90
In-situ measurement of sintering kinetics: No applied field Strain during heating measured using optical DIC (No E field)
In-situ measurement of sintering kinetics: No applied field Linear strain (%) 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 10ksi No field 20ksi No field CTE (from cooling curves) 10 ksi: 26.3e-6 1/ o C 20 ksi: 26.0e-6 1/ o C 0.5 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Temperature ( o C)
In-situ measurement of sintering kinetics: E = 28 V/cm E = 28 V/cm, 3A
UNCLASSIFIED In-situ measurement of sintering kinetics: comparison 20 ksi No field Linear strain (%) 3.5 3 3.5 20 ksi 28V/cm, 3A 3 20 ksi 28V/cm, 3A (I) 2.5 2.5 2 2 1.5 1.5 1 1 DC Current (A) 4 0.5 0.5 0 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Temperature (oc)
Evidence of flash phenomena in metal powder processing Linear change (%) 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 40% change in dimension in single jump! 20ksi No field 20 ksi 28V/cm, 3A 0 350 450 Temperature ( o C)
XRD
Linking processing to microstructure No electric field 28V/cm, 3A (sample edge) 10 ksi CIP + sinter polished surfaces (1000x)
Linking processing to microstructure No electric field 28V/cm, 3A (sample edge) 10 ksi CIP + sinter polished surf (4000x)
Linking processing to microstructure No electric field 28V/cm, 3A (sample edge) 10 ksi CIP + sinter polished surf (10000x)
Observations on sample heterogeneity Specimen center Specimen edge Edge = denser 10 ksi CIP + sinter (28V/cm), 3A) polished surf
Quenching after flash event 20 ksi AS CIP NO E FIELD 60V, 3A (QUENCHED) 60V, 3A
Effect of field processing parameters on sintering kinetics Linear change (%) 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 20ksi No field 20ksi 28V/cm, 3A 20ksi 56V/cm, 3A 2x applied field results in ~100 o C decrease in flash temperature 56V/cm current load (A) 3.5 3 2.5 1.5 0.5 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 Temperature ( o C) 2 1 DC Current (A)
How low temperature is possible? AA5083 sintered under electric field with NO additional heating (room temperature experiment)
Quantifying the effect of Joule heating Run away Joule heating often cited in literature to explain flash in ceramics Could field effect be resistive Joule heating in the sample resulting in a higher sintering temperature than the non-field sample? Sample non-conductive prior to flash Local temperatures at particle contacts could be much higher than bulk but would expect to see evidence of melting IR camera for full field temperature measurements during flash dt/dt ( o C/min) 1 hz 28V/cm, 3A: ΔT max = 49 o C 56V/cm, 3A: ΔT max = 53 o C 500 400 120V/3A 300 60V/3A 200 100 0 250 300 350 400 AVG SAMPLE TEMPERATURE ( o C)
ΔT of sample during flash Max. observed ΔT = ~75 o C T = ~475 o C Experiment is current limited so Joule heating is about the same regardless of initial applied field strength
Quantification of thermal strain
Discrete particle modeling How do local fields and current densities develop? Cold Isostatic Press simulation to generate starting microstructure 450 um box Particle D = 45 um Initial packing density = 0.32 612 particles Thermal-electric simulation to determine effective conductivity and local gradients
CIP simulation results evolution of contact area CONTACT AREA NORAMLIZED BY TOTAL SUFACE AREA OF PARTICLES 1 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Friction = 0.3 Friction = 0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 VOLUMETRIC STRAIN 0.5 0.6 0.7
Thermal-electric model results Evolution of conduction paths 50% transparency, 1mA contour limit 0 MPa, vf = 0.44 0.017 MPa, vf = 0.45 0.024 MPa, vf = 0.47 0.03 MPa, vf = 0.51 > 1mA 3.6 Mpa, vf = 0.54 35 Mpa, vf = 0.63 75 MPa, vf = 0.71 Huge increase in conductivity with small evolution of microstructure
Conclusions Flash sintering phenomena demonstrated in metallic powders Field plays a strong role in sintering and diffusion kinetics Rapid and permanent microstructure change during flash Field strength plays a strong role Joule heating contributes but, alone, cannot account for flash phenomena and enhanced sintering kinetics Also cannot explain effect of field strength on flash temperature Questions... Oxide/dielectric breakdown? Space charge depletion layers between particles? Electromigration??
Ongoing and future work Quantification of activation energy for flash sintering of A5083 Modeling Micromechanical to understand current pathways and local fields Continuum scale modeling of sintering including field enhanced kinetics Evolution of particleparticle contacts during cold isostatic pressing Experimental facilities being upgraded 1200 o C vacuum furnace (4 tube) 30kV power supply In situ heating stage for SEM
Acknowledgements Dr. Anit Giri Jim Catalano Dennis Miller Frank Kellogg Clara Hofmeister Dr. Tim Walter Dr. Scott Walck Thank you!