Near-net-shape forming of ceramic powder under cold combination pressing and pressureless sintering

Near-net-shape forming of zirconia powder was investigated under the combin ation of cold die and isostatic pressing and pressureless sintering. A comb ination pressing technique, i.e., die compaction under cold isostatic press ing, allowed the forming of a complex shaped ceramic powder body with bette r dimensional control than that achieved by cold isostatic pressing and mor e uniform density distribution than that by die pressing. The constitutive models proposed by Kim and co-workers were implemented into a finite elemen t program (ABAQUS) to simulate densification of ceramic powder under cold c ompaction and pressureless sintering. Finite element calculations were comp ared with experimental data for density distribution and deformation of zir conia powder compacts under cold combination pressing and pressureless sint ering. Finite element results agreed well with experimental data.