Determination of shear viscosity of borosilicate glass plus silica powder compacts by an optical system

The shear viscosity of borosilicate glass (BSG) + silica powder compacts was determined during isothermal sintering at temperatures between 665 and 715 degrees C. An optical system was used to measure in situ the densification profiles of the compacts in the form of thick films constrained on a rigid substrate and in-plane stresses generated during sintering. The sheer viscosity as a function of relative density was calculated from these measurements by using Scherer's viscous constitutive equations for a porous sintering body. The shear viscosity for samples with silica contents from 0 to 20 vol% generally showed a slow increase with density in the low-density regime followed by a rapid rise after some threshold density that decreased with either increasing silica powder content or decreasing sintering temperature. The dependence of shear viscosity on relative density is consistent with results from sinter-forging experiments. However, results obtained from pure BSG compacts also revealed strong dependence of shear viscosity on temperature and microstructure, which has been all but neglected in previous theoretical studies.