We have the only facility in the world to have the capability for flash sintering technology development and demonstration at a manufacturing scale, across many industries.

We foresee applications of our technology beyond the tileware industry:

Electroceramics

Electroceramics are ceramic materials which are used in a wide variety of applications due to their electrical properties. One such application is in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC). An important component of SOFC is the interconnect, which consists of a ceramic layer on a metal substrate. A high temperature is required to densify the ceramic layer, but the metal substrate cannot be sintered at such temperatures, creating a problem. To overcome this, FS has been used to produce dense ceramic layer at lower sintering temperatures at which the metal substrate is still stable. Illustrated below are SEM images of the microstructure.

Biomaterials

High mechanical strength and fracture toughness are examples of properties which are required in orthopedic materials for certain applications. To achieve these properties, ceramic materials need to be sintered at high temperatures for a considerable amount of time. Using our technology and applying an electric field across the material, it is possible to sinter ceramics to produce highly dense structures with limited grain growth at low temperatures.