Spark Plasma Sintering/Field Assisted Sintering of Ceramic Materials

The Field Assisted Sintering Technology (FAST), also known as Spark Plasma Sintering(SPS), is an innovative sintering process, which allows fast densification with reduced grain growthor interaction between all the components. This offers the possibilities of fast and effective densification of materials and the development of new material concepts. In a short overview the method and their potential for ceramic materialsis discussed. The possibilities of the method are then demonstrated for new material concepts on the basis of Si 3 N 4 -materials.