2-D Phase-field Simulation of Pore Evolution in Sintering Ceramics

This paper was devoted to the modeling of pore evolution in sintering ceramics by a two-dimensional phase-field model. A pore among four grains was considered, and the microstruc-ture was described by a continuous density field and a long-range orientation field(LRO). The evolution of the density was governed by Cahn-Hilliard equation, while the orientation field by the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation(TDGL). The nonlinear evolution equations were solved by a semi-implicit Fourier-spectral scheme. The simulation results reflect the microscopic process such as grain contact, sintering neck growth and pore spheroidization. The predicted growth rate of sintering neck and sintering rate for different ratios of grain boundary to surface mobility are consistent with the existing theoretical analysis.