Abstract
Fine and ultrafine powders are often used as starting materials for fabrication of advanced materials; they are first formed into desired shapes and then consolidated into high density parts by application of pressure and heat. Electroconsolidation is a densification method for rapid pressure assisted densification of complex shaped parts made from powder preforms. The part to be densified is immersed in a bed of free flowing, electrically conducting, graphite powder medium within a cylindrical die chamber. Pressure is applied externally and heat is generated internally by resistively heating the graphite powder. Because of rapid heating and the attendant wide temperature fluctuations possible with resistive heating, it is of paramount importance to measure and control the temperature in the die to achieve reproducible densification properties. This paper describes an ultrasonic pitch-catch sensor that can be used to non-intrusively measure the temperature of a graphite powder bed. Results of ultrasonic data for heating trials conducted at up to ≈3000°C indicate that the average temperature in a graphite powder bed can be predicted to within 2-3%. The ultrasonic sensor can be used to precisely control the heating trajectory and densification of parts with reproducible properties.
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