Analysis of Sintering of a Composite with a Glass or Ceramic Matrix

A recently developed theory for sintering of bimodal powders is applied to a composite where the matrix is either a glass or a ceramic. The filler phase is assumed to be rigid and nonsintering. It is shown that glass-matrix composites should have predictable sintering behavior which follows the rule of mixtures, but ceramic-matrix composites are expected to be more difficult to sinter, and their sintering behavior may deviate considerably from the rule of mixtures, even at low concentrations of the filler phase.