We report a numerical study of the field assisted sintering of silicon germanium alloys by a finite element method, which takes into account contact resistances, thermal expansion and the thermoelectric effect. The distribution of electrical and thermal fields was analyzed numerically, based on the experimental data collected from spark plasma sintering (SPS) apparatus. The thermoelectric properties of Si-Ge used within the simulation were considered as the function of density and the sintering temperature. Quantitative estimation of the temperature distribution during the sintering pointed to a significant, up to 60 °C, temperature difference within the specimen volume for the case of the sintering temperature at 1150 °C.
Keywords: FEM; field assisted sintering; mechanical alloying; modeling; nanocomposite; nanostructured; silicon germanium; simulation; spark plasma sintering; thermoelectric materials.