*Article* **Spark Plasma Sintering Apparatus Used for High-temperature Compressive Creep Tests**

#### **Barak Ratzker, Sergey Kalabukhov and Nachum Frage \***

Department of Materials Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel; ratzkerb@post.bgu.ac.il (B.R.); kalabukh@bgu.ac.il (S.K.)

**\*** Correspondence: nfrage@bgu.ac.il; Tel.: +972-8-646-1468; Fax: +972-8-647-9441

Received: 10 November 2019; Accepted: 13 January 2020; Published: 15 January 2020

**Abstract:** Creep is a time dependent, temperature-sensitive mechanical response of a material in the form of continuous deformation under constant load or stress. To study the creep properties of a given material, the load/stress and temperature must be controlled while measuring strain over time. The present study describes how a spark plasma sintering (SPS) apparatus can be used as a precise tool for measuring compressive creep of materials. Several examples for using the SPS apparatus for high-temperature compressive creep studies of metals and ceramics under a constant load are discussed. Experimental results are in a good agreemen<sup>t</sup> with data reported in literature, which verifies that the SPS apparatus can serve as a tool for measuring compressive creep strain of materials.

**Keywords:** spark plasma sintering apparatus; compressive creep test; stress exponent; electric current
