Domain coarsening in viscous sintering as a result of topological pore evolution

The microstructure evolution in 3D was studied by X-ray microtomography to reveal the relation between topology of pore networks and characteristic length in viscous sintering. The mean intercept length was defined from solid/pore interface for characterizing the length of solid phase and pore phase. The increase of the characteristic length with densification was termed as domain coarsening. The topological pore evolution was analyzed by using genus. The characteristic length increased with decreasing genus in the intermediate stage. The domain coarsening takes place as a natural consequence of pore evolution in viscous sintering, i.e., the decrease of total surface area concurrent with the topological transformations.

Automated summary

X-ray microtomography was used to study the microstructure evolution in 3D, revealing the relationship between the topology of pore networks and characteristic length with densification. The increase in characteristic length with decreasing genus in the intermediate stage results in domain coarsening. This coarsening is a natural consequence of pore evolution in viscous sintering, leading to a decrease in total surface area due to topological transformations.