A Software Tool for the Rapid Analysis of the Sintering Behavior of Particulate Bodies

Sintering studies provide insights into how to best incorporate processing additives and optimize processing conditions to efficiently produce materials that have the desired properties and performance. The studies provide observations of the rate of densification given a thermal history, where densification is measured through dilatometry. From a series of these studies a master sintering curve (MSC) can be developed that provides the ability to predict densification of a powder and green-body process given a thermal history. The calculation of the MSC can be tedious, involving repetitive evaluations of integrals over data that need to be corrected for measurement noise and thermal expansion. As such, a software tool was developed to aid in analyzing the data acquired during the sintering studies and to readily produce MSCs. This report begins with an introduction to the software tool and its use, followed by the calculation procedures that are implemented within the tool. Last, 2 sintering studies are evaluated using the tool to validate and demonstrate the functionality.