A unified model for compaction and sintering behavior of powder processing

In this paper, a unified model for describing compaction and sintering based on plasticity theory is presented. To explain both compaction and sintering within a single model, the sintering driving force is treated as hydrostatic pressure and added to the yield function for a general porous material. The constitutive equation is derived by applying the flow rule to the origin shifted yield function considering the sintering driving force, and the derived equation is then and verified by comparison to experimental results. Finite element analysis is performed using the verified model to predict the non-uniform density distribution due to compaction and the dimensional change of the final product due to sintering. Finally, the simulation results are compared to other experimental and simulation results to evaluate the reliability of the proposed model.