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Laser Melting of Spark Plasma‐Sintered Zirconium Carbide: Thermophysical Properties of a Generation IV Very High‐Temperature Reactor Material
Author(s) -
Jackson Heather F.,
Jayaseelan Daniel D.,
Lee William E.,
Reece Michael J.,
Inam Fawad,
Manara Dario,
Casoni Carlo Perinetti,
De Bruycker Franck,
Boboridis Konstantinos
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of applied ceramic technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.4
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1744-7402
pISSN - 1546-542X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7402.2009.02434.x
Subject(s) - materials science , eutectic system , liquidus , solidus , spark plasma sintering , zirconium , zirconium carbide , carbide , zirconium dioxide , crucible (geodemography) , microstructure , porosity , metallurgy , phase diagram , ceramic , boron carbide , phase (matter) , analytical chemistry (journal) , composite material , alloy , computational chemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry , chromatography
Melting temperatures of zirconium carbide were investigated in validating a novel thermal analysis technique for refractory materials. Commercial ZrC 0.96 powder was densified by spark plasma sintering to >96% relative density after 6–30 min at 2173–2453 K under 40–100 MPa. Sintered ceramics were heated to >4000 K via pulsed laser heating. Mean values for solidus and liquidus transitions were 3451 and 3608 K, respectively, in fair agreement with the present phase diagram. Postmelting analysis revealed dendritic microstructure and composition consistent with single‐phase ZrC. Subsurface gas porosity and ZrC–C eutectic indicate complex processes occurring during melting and freezing.