Sintering Behavior of Diboride Based Materials

A brief history of diboride research, an overview of processing, and sintering studies are covered in this viewgraph presentation. UHTCs are a family of ceramic materials, including diborides of Hf and Zr, with extremely high melting temperatures. Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) is a novel processing technique useful in consolidating difficult materials. The presentation also contains microphotographs of the microstructure of HfB2 and ZrB2 processed in different ways.