Effects of spark plasma sintering parameters on sintering mechanism of yttrium hydride

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2025.01.013

Abstract

Abstract: Yttrium hydride (YHx) is a highly promising neutron moderator material for nuclear reactors, known for its exceptional thermal stability and high hydrogen content. This study investigated the sintering mechanism and microstructural evolution of YHx monoliths processed by spark plasma sintering (SPS), with the effects of temperature, duration, and pressure. The results indicate that the sintering process can be divided into ﬁve stages: formation of sintering necks, rapid densiﬁcation, anti-densiﬁcation, re-crystallization, and grain growth. The anti-densiﬁcation behavior is attributed to hydrogen desorption, phase transformation-induced volumetric contraction, and vacancy coalescence from hydrogen migration, leaving residual pores and lattice defects. Furthermore, increasing the sintering temperature and dura-tion promotes recrystallization and grain growth, whereas elevated pressure effectively suppresses grain boundary migration. This research establishes fundamental processing-structure correlations critical for optimizing YHx moderators in nuclear applications.

Key words: Yttrium hydride, Sintering mechanism, Microstructural defects, Hydrogen desorption, Recrystallization

Xuyang Shang, Yuxin Lin, Keke Hou, Yajuan Zhong, Changqing Cao, Yanhui Wang, Hongtao Zeng, Jun Lin. Effects of spark plasma sintering parameters on sintering mechanism of yttrium hydride[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2025, 229: 106-115.

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