Elastic properties of porous polycrystalline thoria—A relook

Elastic constant–porosity relation for polycrystalline thoria reported by previous researchers has been reanalyzed on the basis of the Mori–Tanaka mean field approach and a power law dependence of moduli with porosity. It indicates that the shear modulus dependence on Young's modulus is possibly related to the sintering characteristics of the material rather than pore morphology. A new method has been suggested for predicting variations of elastic properties and porosity with the progress in sintering of thoria based on experimental data at a single porosity only. The predicted values agree with the experimental data quite well.