Some Analysis of Microsegregation by Surface Transport during Sintering

Abstract

Microsegregation in an homogeneous alloy during sintering was first demonstrated by Kuczynski et al. (1), for a bulk transport process. The effectiveness of bulk transport in causing segregation at internal voids has been explored by Anthony (2), and his analysis (3) of the transport process in the sintering geometry working from a grain boundary source is satisfactorily complete. That microsegregation can also be obtained by surface transport has recently been demonstrated most satisfactorily by Mishra et al., (4) in the preceding paper. Here the situation is somewhat more complex since the segregation that is developed by surface transport in the early stages of sintering tends to be obliterated by the bulk diffusion that takes place during the later stages of sintering. Moreover the deficit of the faster diffusing component in the erosion region disappears early while in the region of the sintering neck the excess of the faster component persists much longer.