In an attempt to explore exotic new materials, we decided to embark on a new project of building a spark plasma sintering furnace. The device that combines high pressure, high temperature and high current can push many materials to the limits of their phase diagrams.

 

As aluminum and KF o-rings would not at all be able to resist the temperatures and pressures this chamber experiences, the design had to be with all CF flanges and machined out of steel. This made the chamber a lot harder to manufacture.

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The chamber consists of a viewport, two electric feedthroughs and a flange for the pump. The bellow allows us to use an hydraulic press to apply pressure on the material inside, and a graphite punch and die set inside the chamber allows us to conduct high current across the material.

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This project is complete with the design and manufacturing stage and is now in the test process. We are currently trying to improve the compressive strength as the graphite we're using won't stand past 50MPa. We're also exploring new electric insulating ceramic powders as boron nitride spray proved to cause too much off gassing.

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Ongoing project...