THE SINTERING OF A FRACTAL ARRAY OF CYLINDERS

The sintering of aerogels is modelled by combining two known methods: the method of the array of cylinders used by Scherer and the dressing of particles of fractal aggregates. In this paper, bonds between parti cles of an on-lattice computed gel are replaced by cylinders. During s intering, the radius of the cylinders increases. We compute this radiu s vs. the renormalized concentration of the gel, in a first step by an analytical method and then by a numerical method. By deriving the vol ume as a function of the concentration, we also obtain the specific su rface during sintering.