Industrial scale field assisted sintering an emerging disruptive manufacturing technology: Applications

Researchers at Applied Research Laboratory-Penn State University used field assisted sintering technology (FAST) to demonstrate the proof-of-concept by fabricating net-shaped heat-sink plates, focusing on development of functional graded heat-sink components and high-current density modules needed for a wide range of applications. Researchers also looked at fabricating heat-sink plates of various other systems such as copper-diamond, copper-tungsten, refractory materials, tungsten, and ceramic materials. The results showed that joining tungsten to copper is difficult due to the high thermal conductivity of copper. Nickel is found to be a good material for the intermediate layer in high temperature electrode applications, which shows that tungsten can be used for high temperature electrode and Cu is used for heat extraction.