Multi-physics simulation of oxygen diffusion in PSZ–Ti composites during spark plasma sintering process

This paper deals with the deformation of PSZ and Ti particles and oxygen diffusion in spark plasma sintering process of PSZ–Ti composites by a multi-physics simulation based on a finite element method. The simulation condition is compressive stress of 15 MPa, heating rate of about 160 °C/min and sintering temperature of 1000 °C. The volume fraction of PSZ is set to be 12.5 vol.% and 25 vol.%. At the temperature of over 800 °C, the voids among particles shrink rapidly and oxygen diffuses from PSZ particle to Ti particles. When the temperature reaches 1000 °C, the oxygen distributes in Ti particles uniformly and Ti oxide is created.