Sinterability studies of monolithic chromium diboride (CrB₂) by spark plasma sintering

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of the processing parameters such as temperature, mechanical pressure and dwell time on densification behavior of monolithic chromium diboride. The sintering experiments were performed at different temperatures ranging from 1100 °C to 1900 °C under the mechanical pressure of 30 MPa–70 MPa for 1 min–15 min duration. The onset temperature for the densification of CrB₂ is observed to be 1300 °C at 50 MPa. High dense chromium diboride (98.4%ρ_th) compact was obtained when processed at 1900 °C under a mechanical pressure of 70 MPa for 15 min duration. Hardness and fracture toughness of high density monolithic CrB₂ (98.4%ρ_th) sample were measured to be 15.89 ± 1.3 GPa and 1.8 ± 0.14 MPa·m^1/2 respectively.