Sintering

Mechanisms of Driving forces for sintering

(1) Reduction of the total surface
area by an increase in the
average size of the particles,
which leads to coarsening (Fig.
10.2b), and/or
(2) The elimination of
solid/vapor interfaces and the
creation of grain boundary area

If the atomic processes that lead to

densification dominate, the pores get
smaller and disappear with time and
the compact shrinks. But if the atomic
processes that lead to coarsening are
faster, both the pores and grains get
larger with time.
 Necessary condition for densification to occur

A necessary condition for densification to occur is that the grain boundary

energy γgb be less than twice the solid/vapor surface energy γSV. This implies
that the equilibrium dihedral angle φ shown in Fig. 10.3a and defined as

has to be less than 180°. For many oxide systems, the dihedral angle is around 120°,
implying that λgb/ γSV ≈ 1.0, in contrast to metallic systems where that ratio is closer to
between 0.25 and 0.5.
 Grain size versus density trajectories
(time evolution of the grain and pore sizes)
(a) - Typically, a material will follow the
path denoted by curve y, where both
densification and coarsening occur
simultaneously.
- However, to obtain near-
theoretical densities, coarsening has
to be suppressed until most of the
shrinkage has occurred; i.e., the
system should follow the trajectory
denoted by curve z.
- A powder that follows trajectory x,
remain porous
(b) Coarsening leads to an increase in
both, whereas densification eliminates
pores
Densification is best followed by measuring the density of the Compact. This is usually
carried out dilatometrically.
Coarsening kinetics are best followed by measuring the average particle size as a
function of time via optical or scanning electron microscopy