ANALYSIS OF INITIAL-STAGE SINTERING THROUGH COMPUTER-SIMULATION

The geometrical changes of powders during initial stage sintering have been simulated. Five sintering mechanisms were considered to be acting simultaneously. Neck growth, shrinkage, and surface area reduction for a line of spheres and powder aggregates, in both loose and compacted form, were studied. The effects of the heating rate and the degree of compaction on sintering based on the simulation results with copper system are discussed. The simulations show that slow heating rates can provide more shrinkage than high heating rates, even within the same total sintering time for copper powders simulated in this study. The results also show that, the greater the amount of compaction, the less shrinkage. The kinectics of the initial stage sintering is also analyzed based on the simulation results of neck growth, shrinkage, and surface area changes.