Anisotropic liquid phase sintering investigated by means of micromechanical and discrete element modeling

Sintering green bodies made by typical industrial production processes like uniaxial compaction, tape casting or extrusion may exhibit a significant anisotropic microstructure, which in turn leads to anisotropic sintering behavior. By applying the Discrete Element Method (DEM) we are ablo to investigate the sintering process on the grain scale and show how anisotropic grain arrangements lead to an isotropy in macroscopic quantities like strain rate. These DEM simulations are compared to a micromechanical, anisotropic liquid-phase sintering model. By implementing the model into a finite element program simulating anisotropic sintering of complex shaped 3D parts becomes possible.