Pore filling process in liquid phase sintering

Models for liquid flow into isolated pores during liquid phase sintering are described qualitatively. The grains are assumed to maintain an equilibrium shape determined by a balance between their tendency to become spherical and a negative capillary pressure in the liquid due to menisci at the specimen surface and the pore. With an increase of grain size, the grain sphering force decreases while the radius of liquid menisci increases to maintain the force equilibrium. When grain growth reaches a critical point, the liquid menisci around a pore become spherical and the driving force for filling the pore rapidly increases as liquid flows into it. The critical grain size required for filling a pore increases linearly with pore size. Experimentally, filling of isolated pores has been investigated in Fe-Cu powder mixture after liquid phase sintering treatment and after dipping into a molten matrix alloy. The observed pore filling behaviors agree with the qualitative predictions based on the models. In Fe-Cu alloy, pore filling is terminated by gas bubbles formed in liquid pockets. This paper is based on a presentation delivered at the symposium “Activated and Liquid Phase Sintering of Refractory Metals and Their Compounds” held at the annual meeting of the AIME in Atlanta, Georgia on March 9, 1983, under the sponsorship of the TMS Refractory Metals Committee of AIME.