Until 2000 almost all research in the microwave sintering area was confined to non-metallic materials. However, after the first report by Penn State in 1999 on full sintering of steel powders in microwave, now in the last few years there has been increasing interest in applying microwave energy for processing of variety of metallic materials. The present study is an extension of this work and r...

This paper investigates major issues in developing a new Rapid Prototyping (RP) process and presents a systematic approach to the required R&D. A procedure for simultaneous study of the many inter-related issues, including hardware and software design and development, material selection, and optimization of various variables will be shown using realistic examples from a recently developed RP pr...

Studies have proved that increasing polymer matrices by carbon nanotubes to form structural reinforcement and electrical conductivity have significantly improved mechanical and electrical properties at very low carbon nanotubes loading. In other words, increasing polymer matrices by carbon nanotubes to form structural reinforcement can reduce friction coefficient and enhance anti-wear property....

Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) methods, like Electron Beam Sintering (EBS) constitute an interesting process concerning the production of small series and customised products. However, transient effects occur during processing due to the different physical principles of an electron beam (EB). Thus, process knowledge from similar ALM technologies, for instance Selective Laser Melting, can no...

The potassium sodium niobate, K0.5Na0.5NbO₃, solid solution (KNN) is considered as one of the most promising, environment-friendly, lead-free candidates to replace highly efficient, lead-based piezoelectrics. Since the first reports of KNN, it has been recognized that obtaining phase-pure materials with a high density and a uniform, fine-grained microstructure is a major challenge. For this rea...

Microwave sintering is a new sintering technology developed in the middle to late period of the 1980’s, which is characterized by fast densification for ceramic materials[1]. In recent years, microwave heating has been well employed in the field of sintering and joining of ceramics as a result of its advantages against conventional methods. These ceramic materials include oxides, mixed oxides, ...

The superconductivity at 39 K discovered in MgB2 among simple binary chemical composition attracted much interest in its fabrication techniques and practical applications [1]. MgB2 superconductor exhibits many impressive properties such as highest critical temperature amongst intermetallic superconductors which means low cooling costs, impressive grain boundary transparency to the flow of curre...