Microstructural evolution of ZnO via hybrid cold sintering/spark plasma sintering

In this work, we demonstrate a hybrid cold sintering/spark plasma sintering (CSP-SPS) process to densify ZnO ceramic with controlled grain growth. The densification of ZnO is initially activated at 85 °C, and high densities (>98%) are achieved at 200–300 °C in only 5 min with a low assisted pressure of 3.8–50 MPa. The microstructure of ZnO grains experiences a mild coarsening from ~205–680 nm during the CSP-SPS. In comparison, a much higher temperature (>770 °C) is required to sinter ZnO ceramic via SPS, and the grain size exhibits an obvious overgrowth to ~10 µm. The calculated apparent activation energy of grain growth using CSP-SPS is 69.3 ± 6 kJ/mol, which is much lower than that of SPS samples with 296.8 ± 59 kJ/mol. In addition, the conduction mechanism of the CSP-SPS and SPS samples is investigated using impedance spectroscopy. Overall, CSP-SPS is promising for the fabrication of fine ceramics with mild sintering conditions. • A hybrid cold sintering/spark plasma sintering (CSP-SPS) is proposed to densify ZnO ceramics. • CSP-SPS enables highly dense ZnO ceramics at 200–300 °C for only 5 min under 3.8–50 MPa. • ZnO grains experience a mild coarsening from ~205–680 nm during the CSP-SPS. • The apparent activation energy of grain growth using CSP-SPS is only 69.3 ± 6 kJ/mol.