Röding M, Del Castillo L A, Nydén M, Follink B
Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
SP Food and Bioscience, Soft Materials Science, Gteborg, Sweden.
J Microsc. 2016 Dec;264(3):298-303. doi: 10.1111/jmi.12442. Epub 2016 Jun 30.
We study the microstructure of a granular amorphous silica ceramic material synthesized by spark plasma sintering. Using monodisperse spherical silica particles as precursor, spark plasma sintering yields a dense granular material with distinct granule boundaries. We use selective etching to obtain nanoscopic pores along the granule borders. We interrogate this highly interesting material structure by combining scanning electron microscopy, X-ray computed nanotomography and simulations based on random close packed spherical particles. We determine the degree of anisotropy caused by the uni-axial force applied during sintering, and our analysis shows that our synthesis method provides a means to avoid significant granule growth and to fabricate a material with well-controlled microstructure.
我们研究了通过放电等离子体烧结合成的粒状非晶二氧化硅陶瓷材料的微观结构。以单分散球形二氧化硅颗粒为前驱体，放电等离子体烧结产生了具有明显颗粒边界的致密粒状材料。我们使用选择性蚀刻来沿着颗粒边界获得纳米级孔隙。我们通过结合扫描电子显微镜、X射线计算机纳米断层扫描以及基于随机密堆积球形颗粒的模拟来研究这种极具吸引力的材料结构。我们确定了烧结过程中施加的单轴力所导致的各向异性程度，并且我们的分析表明，我们的合成方法提供了一种避免颗粒显著生长并制造具有微观结构可控的材料的手段。
