Evaluation of Macroscopic Mechanical Properties from 3-D Visualization of Microstructure in Sintering

Abstract

From the macroscopic point of view, shrinkage during sintering can be treated as a linear creep of a porous body under the thermodynamic driving force, i.e., the sintering stress. The final shape of the product and the internal stress which arise during sintering will be predicted by the simulation, if the sintering stress and the bulk viscosity are given as functions of relative density. These macroscopic properties in heterogeneous materials are defined as the average over the representative volume element (RVE). Using X-ray microtomography, it is possible to follow the 3-D microstructure evolution during sintering. Here, we developed methods to estimate macroscopic properties from 3D visualization of microstructures in the scale of RVE observed by X-ray microtomography.