Hot-pressing kinetics of zirconium carbide

The hot-pressing kinetics of zirconium carbide were studied between 1700 and 2400° C in argon. The validity of different theoretical models due to Murray, Koval'chenko, Skorokhod, Scholz and Lersmacher was tested. For temperatures exceeding 2200° C, there is reasonably good agreement between kinetics and the whole set of models, but it has not been possible to classify them in order to draw conclusions on the sintering mechanism. The activation energy of ZrC hot-pressing was calculated, starting from the viscosity calculated by Murray's formula, as 41 kcal mol^–1 (171.7 kJ mol^–1).