Predicting powder densification during sintering

The milestone of sintering studies is to predict the densification resulting from the coalescence of powder particles under different thermal histories. Although sintering is a common process to produce devices with dense and/or porous materials, predicting the outcome from a given heating procedure is still a challenge. Hence, manufacturing sintered products is currently guided by previous work at very specific experimental settings, full material characterization or trial and error approaches. Here we develop and validate a simple model to overcome those issues towards efficient thermal cycles design by predicting densification during sintering. Additionally, this model may be helpful in diverse areas beyond the scope of sintering, such as in reaction systems, and for modeling other Arrhenius-like phenomena.