We’re pleased to share that in 2024 we completed the construction of a new high-temperature furnace with ultrahigh heating rates. It operates in an ultrahigh-vacuum chamber and uses graphite felt to heat samples, to temperatures confirmed by melting point analysis to be above 2600 °C, at heat rates up to 2400 °C per minute. Since then, we’ve conducted multiple reaction experiments with the system, confirming very rapid densification of various advanced ceramics. We can readily sinter polycrystalline alumina to full density in under two minutes at 1600 °C and have achieved full density in roughly five seconds at higher temperatures. This capability enables us to evaluate new materials, and study their behavior under ultrahigh temperatures and ultrafast heating rates. Construction of the system and its development is an on-going collaboration between Kaplan’s group at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Israel Institute of Materials Manufacturing Technologies at the Technion.
