Electrical Resistivity of Metal Powder Aggregates

An equation for calculating the electrical resistivity of a compressed powder mass, consisting of oxide-coated metal particles, has been derived. In addition to the intrinsic interest of the problem, the proposed equation is useful for describing the very early stages of electrical sintering processes. The problem is approached in a new way, relating the actual powder system to an equivalent system consisting of deforming spheres in a simple cubic packing, which is much easier to examine. The proposed equation was experimentally verified from measurements of the electrical resistivity for aluminum, bronze, iron, and nickel powders under pressure. The consistency between theoretical predictions and experimental results was reasonably good in all cases.