sintering: a standalone construct

In materials science and powder processing, sintering is the heat treatment that bonds a mass of loose or pressed particles into a coherent, denser solid at a temperature below the material's melting point. Driven by the reduction of total surface free energy, atoms diffuse across particle contacts to grow necks, close pores, and shrink the compact, so a fragile powder body becomes a strong ceramic, metal, or cermet part. German's Sintering theory and practice and Rahaman's Ceramic processing and sintering set out the diffusion mechanisms, densification kinetics, and grain-growth trade-offs that govern the process, which is the same construct whether the feedstock is a ceramic powder, a pressed metal part, or iron ore agglomerated on a sinter strand. The referent is a densification process measured by shrinkage and final density, and it has nothing to do with the geological deposit that shares the name.[1][2]

Unit

Fractional density and linear shrinkage reached during the firing schedule

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Tracked by densification and shrinkage curves, final relative density, pore-size reduction, and grain-size growth versus time and temperature