Sintering of mixtures of powders: Experiments and modelling

The sintering process has also been modelled by using discrete element method. From both experimental and simulation results the effect of inert inclusions on the densification of metal-ceramic powder mixtures during free sintering is discussed. We found in particular that the densification was significantly delayed even for a volume fraction of inclusions as low as 5% and strongly hindered when this content got to 20%.