Intensified sintering of iron powders under the action of an electric field: Effect of technologic parameter on sintering densification

In the process of intensified sintering of iron powders under the action of an electric field with low voltage and high current, the effect of sintering temperature and sintering time on the densification process were investigated by means of thermal simulation. Both the metalloscope results and the statistic analysis of the distribution of pores in sintered compacts show that an electric field is not only providing the Joule heat for a compact, but also accelerating the diffusion among iron atoms in the sintering process, which leads to intensified sintering. The relative density of the sintered compact can be over 95% at relatively low sintering temperature (800 °C) or within relatively short sintering time (2 min) at high temperature. Both sintering temperature and sintering time have effect on the process of iron powder densification. In this study, a sintering temperature of 1100 °C and a sintering time of 4 min lead to over 97% consolidation for iron powder compact.