Rapid rate sintering of dispersed systems: Theory, processing, and problems

The process of rapid rate sintering of dispersed powders is studied, It is shown that rapid rare sintering results in high density and uniform fine-gr ained microstructure of the sintered materials. Structure evolution of poro us powder packing is analyzed from the likely viewpoint of the statistics o f randomly packed particles with varying average relative density. A new me chanism of rotational rearrangement controlled through grain boundary diffu sion and providing uniform densification along nifh reduction in inter-part icle distance is proposed. The advantages of non-isothermol and rapid heati ng sintering are discussed.