D. Bouvard et Rm. Mcmeeking, DEFORMATION OF INTERPARTICLE NECKS BY DIFFUSION-CONTROLLED CREEP, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 79(3), 1996, pp. 666-672
The deformation of a neck between two spherical particles of the same
size by coupled grain-boundary and surface diffusion has been simulate
d numerically through the finite-difference method, In the case of pur
e sintering where there is no applied stress, the results agree quite
well with simple analytical models. When a force is applied, it is fou
nd that they do not deform as truncated spheres, even when surface dif
fusion is much faster than grain-boundary diffusion, Expressions are g
iven representing the rate of approach of the particles and the rate o
f growth of the neck as a function of the current neck radius and the
applied stress.