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When heat and electric field are applied to the sample, sintering takes place within a short time of a few seconds by the flash phenomenon that occurs. In what condition flash does occur is a main issue for the flash sintering technique. In this study, the effect of processing conditions such as sintering atmosphere, sample size, density and grain size on the flash onset of hydroxyapatite was investigated. In a vacuum atmosphere, a flash occurred at a lower temperature by 50-100 °C than in air. The smaller the thickness of the sample, the higher the flash onset temperature due to the larger specific surface area. Flash was also observed in samples which were presintered, having a density of 86-100% and a grain size of 0.2-0.9 μm. When the density and grain size of the sample were higher and larger, the flash onset temperature was higher. It was because the diffusion and conduction path through the grain boundary and the inner surface of the pores with high defect concentration are blocked with an increase of density or grain size. When an electric field was applied during flash sintering, a color change of the sample was observed and the reason was discussed.

Cationic ordering in Sr2FeReO6 (SFRO) and Sr2CrReO6 (SCRO) is investigated using magnetic property measurement, atomic-scale imaging, and first-principles calculations. We find that the nature of cationic ordering strongly depends on the host oxides, although they have the same crystal symmetry and chemical formula. Firstly, adding Re is effective to enhance the cationic ordering in SFRO, but makes it worse in SCRO. Secondly, the microscopic structure of antisite (AS) defects, associated with the level of cationic ordering, is also distinguishable; the AS defects in SFRO are clustered in the form of an antiphase-boundary-like feature, while they are randomly scattered in SCRO. Interestingly, we observe that the clustered AS defects deteriorate the ferromagnetism more than the scattered defects. Our findings elevate the importance of the AS defect configuration as well as the amount of defects in terms of magnetic property.

Nonconductive specimens for scanning electron microscopy or X-ray microanalysis are coated with conductive carbon in order to reduce charging. But carbon film absorbs X-ray fluxes causing errors in measuring chemical composition. Especially when the carbon content is measured, carbon coating not only blocks X-rays but also becomes a source of carbon X-rays. It is thus necessary to determine how much errors are induced by carbon coating, and how thick coating is allowed for the accurate measurement. In this study, quantitative analysis of carbon on silicon carbide with carbon coating films was attempted by electron probe microanalyzer. It was found that measured carbon content increased in a nonlinear manner up to 40% with a film thickness, whereas silicon content decreased slightly. Carbon X-ray intensity was determined by computer simulation, which increased in a linear manner with the thickness. The discrepancy was due to a nucleation and growth of islands and thus a change of density with a thickening of coating film.