A LATTICE MODEL FOR SOLID-STATE SINTERING - SIMPLE PARTICLE ARRAYS

A lattice model based on the minimization of interfacial energy of the system is examined for the sintering of particle arrays. The total interaction energy of a site with its neighbors is calculated within a circular neighborhood of prespecified radius centered around the site, and the method is tested using a few sample geometries, namely, an infinite row of monosized particles, an infinite row of differently sized particles and a periodic array of monosized particles, for the case of sintering due to surface diffusion. It is shown that the algorithm predicts the microstructural evolution, neck formation and growth, reduction in the surface area, shrinkage and densification in agreement with experimental observations. The model is simple to use, can be extended to more complicated geometries and offers a convenient way to examine shape and geometric evolution of arbitrary arrays with sintering.