Combined PFM/DEM Analysis of Sintering Behavior of Powder Mixtures with Dispersed/Aggregated Particle Structures in Non-Reactive System

To examine the effects of morphology of metal-ceramic mixtures on the sinterability, a method of simulating the sintering process with no chemical reaction between two dissimilar powder materials is proposed, based on the combined phase-field method (PFM) and discrete element method (DEM). The initial arrangements of dispersed/aggregated particles are prepared with the mixing ratio of two powders changing in the range from 0 to 100%. The calculated results indicate that the sintering shrinkage of powder compacts with dispersed particles is lower than that of aggregated particles, which agrees with the experimental observation in a previous study. It is also confirmed that the grain growth behavior is affected by the dispersion degree of dissimilar particles. The average grain size is decreased with mixing ratio, especially in the case of dispersed particles.