As highlighted above, all the subse

As highlighted above, all the subsectors within the ceramic industrial sector are energy intensive given an integral part of the process entails drying followed by sintering at very high temperatures of between 800℃ and 2000℃ [14]. Sintering is a form of heat treatment to which powder compact is subject with the aim of imparting strength and integrity. It is the procedure for compacting and forming a solid mass of material with the aid of heat or pressure without melting to the point of liquefaction. Over 60% of the 10,700 T J consumed by the UK ceramics sector is utilised for sintering [12]. In the quest to reduce the energy consumption, carbon footprint, energy costs, environmental impact and protect world resources, it has been established that traditional firing or sintering process may now become unnecessary for many ceramic materials, given that a broad spectrum of inorganic materials and composites can also be sintered between room temperature and 200 °C, using the cold sintering process (CSP) developed by Randall and co-workers [15–18]. CSP relies on a second phase that facilitates mass transfer for densification, a process that occurs at low temperatures and over much shorter time frames, minutes instead of hours, when a uniaxial pressure is applied [15–18]. Mostly, these phases produce liquids that evaporate during the process. The transient liquid drives the densification via a solution-precipitation process [15–18].