Abstract
There is growing evidence that oxides of complex chemistries can be formed in one step by reactive flash sintering of their elemental constituents. Here we explore the temporal relationship between phase transformation and sintering by combining measurements of sintering with聽颈苍鈥恠颈迟耻聽measurements of phase transformation. The experiments are carried out under current鈥恟ate, where flash is induced by injecting current and increasing it at a constant rate. We show that phase transformation of powders of magnesia and 伪鈥恆lumina into single鈥恜hase magnesium aluminate spinel was completed in 45 s, whereas sintering to full density required 60 s.