Consolidation of hard sinterable materials and near net shape forming by pulsed current pressure sintering (PCPS) process

The Pulsed Current Pressure Sintering (PCPS) is well known as rapid sintering process. This is a kind of hot pressing which employs the pulsed electric current to heat materials. It is suggested to be characterized by four major advantages over the conventional consolidation techniques, i.e.: (1) preservation of original microstructures after consolidation, (2) high density consolidation in a short time, (3) removal of adsorbed materials on the powder surface, (4) improved mechanical properties resulted from these (1)-(3) items. We employed the PCPS process to consolidate the aluminum alloy powder and attained the high strength sintered specimen. Furthermore, a hollow shaped compact was formed by PCPS using core materials.