title: Microstructure of a granular amorphous silica ceramic synthesized by spark plasma sintering.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.|SP Food and Bioscience, Soft Materials Science, Gteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Röding
authors.affiliation: Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Del Castillo
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Resources, UCL Australia, University College London, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nydén
authors.affiliation: Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.|School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Follink
keywords: Microstructure; X-ray computed tomography; nanoporous; scanning electron microscopy; sintering