Applying an electric field enables

Applying an electric field enables sintering at high heating rates (hundreds to thousands °C per min) and reducing sintering duration and temperature relative to the methods above. Nowadays many different electric current assisted sintering techniques exist. These techniques couple heating and possibly mechanical pressing with different electric current forms, e.g., AC, DC, or pulsed DC.[4] Sintering under electric current was a technology first mentioned in a US patent in 1906 by Bloxam.[5]In the late 1970s, a few composites were produced in this process, but it was only during the 1990s that industry interest in the field has risen. Since then, there is an exponential growth in both academic publications and commercial equipment developments for different applications.[4]