Onset Criterion for Flash Sintering

When the sample temperature is warm enough so that the Joule heating takes over the environment's radiation heating as the dominant heating means, thermal runaway follows and flash sintering is triggered. This condition accurately predicts the reported onset temperature Ton of all the constant-field (E) experiments on flash sintering, performed under a constant heating rate. The predicted linear ln(E2/Ton4) versus Ton−1 relation determines the activation energy and the relative ranking of the electrical conductivity of the tested materials.