The sintering of 304L stainless steel powder

An examination of the shrinkage kinetics for a 304L stainless steel powder showed that initial densification is controlled by a strain assisted volume diffusion mechanism. At temperatures above 1330 K, grain growth reduces the shrinkage rate; however, at lower sintering temperatures, the shrinkage rate is temporarily increased by the proximity of the moving grain boundaries to the interparticle necks. The activation energies of volume diffusion (240 ± 20 kJ/mol) and grain growth (285 ± 35 kJ/mol) were in good agreement with prior results.