STUDY OF THE SINTERING KINETICS WITH THE HELP OF RANDOM SETS MODELS

Probabilistic models were used to follow the evolution of the microstr uctures of WC-Co cermets during sintering in liquid phase Among the th ree models tested. the bi-phased Boolean diagram with polyhedral grain s is the one describing the morphology of these materials best, using only two parameters. The study of the variation of these parameters, w ith respect to time or the sintering temperature, has allowed us to fi nd the equation of sintering kinetics, with an exponent n equal to 3, and to calculate an activation energy compatible with the ones found i n literature. Thanks to the predictive characteristic of this model, w e were also able to estimate a value for the connexity number in R3. w hich is a parameter non accessible through experiment.