Consolidation of Molybdenum nanopowders by spark plasma sintering: Densification mechanism and first mirror application

Abstract

Mo nanopowders are synthesized by ball milling and the following hydrogen reduction of MoO3 powders. The densification mechanism of Mo nanopowders during spark plasma sintering (SPS) is analyzed by the combination of the regression of the experimental data on regular SPS and on the SPS multistep pressure dilatometry based on the continuum theory of the sintering. The Mo mirror with 400 nm average grain size and 93% relative density is fabricated by the SPS. The performance of the mirrors made from a single crystal Mo and from the hydrogen-reduced sintered Mo nanopowder is discussed. The microstructure and optical properties of the mirrors are characterized before and after plasma exposure, and no substantial degradation of the reflectivity was observed.

Pressure assisted sintering stress exponent assessment methods: Accuracy analysis and effect of sintering stress

“…One of the advantages of this method is to allow a fast exploration of the sintering behavior in a wide pressure range. Different use of Li et al [25] method can be cited in the literature for the SPS of Mo [29], W [30], different metals, oxides and plastics [26].…”