Temperature distribution simulation and neck evolution of powder particles during spark plasma sintering

A model has been developed to simulate the heat transfer behavior during spark plasma sintering (SPS) process and by using the pure spherical copper particles as an example, the temperature distribution and the neck size evolution of the powder particles have been studied. There is a greatly inhomogeneous distribution of the temperature in the particle, and the growth rates of the necks are different. The obtained simulation results show a good agreement with the experimental measurements. By the modeling and experimental studies, the intrinsic mechanisms of neck formation and neck growth are well explained.