Constrained sintering of glass films: Microstructure evolution assessed through synchrotron computed microtomography

Glass films composed of 7 μm spherical particles were deposited on rigid substrates and sintered to different densities up to 98%. Synchrotron computed microtomography was used to obtain 3-D images representative of the samples. Several global and local 3-D approaches were tested to quantify microstructure evolution, including the autocorrelation function, and compared to information provided by 2-D sections. These methods provide new tools to understand the effect of geometrical constraints on the sintering process.