SPS

Atmospherically controlled Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) HP D 10 GB

A spark plasma sintering (SPS) system automatically compacts novel thermoelectric powder materials by uniaxial pressure and high temperatures maintained by direct current pulses. By this method a high densification of the powders can be realized which is required for accurate measurements of the thermoelectric properties. At the same time, the micro- or nanostructure of the powdered sample can be preserved which affects the macroscopic transport properties. Furthermore, novel and facile synthesis routes are possible using a SPS system.

The SPS system HP D 10 GB (FCT Systeme GmbH) will be available in our laboratory. As thermoelectric and intermetallic compounds can oxidize before or during the sintering process, any form of oxygen, gaseous or in form of water, must be avoided to guarantee well-defined sinter products. Thus, an in situ preparation and sintering of the powder materials under an inert gas atmosphere is required. We accomplish this by a combined SPS-glovebox system, where the SPS is fully gas-proof and integrated into a glovebox.

To guarantee comparability and reproducibility of the SPS process, the sample temperature is precisely measured by a fixed axial and a fixed radial pyrometer as well as by three thermocouples. All process parameters are recorded an archived. All gas exhausts are connected to an extraction system which allows to handle and synthesize toxic samples.