A Study of the Mechanism of Sintering of Metallic Particles

Abstract

An investigation has been carried out on the mechanism of sintering of metallic particles. Single layers of spherical copper particles have been sintered under varying conditions of time and temperature in a dry hydrogen atmosphere. Analysis of the rate of interface contact between the particles has shown metallic sintering to be a diffusion process, in agreement with the theory of Kuczynski. The heat of activation of self‐diffusion of copper has been calculated and found to be 55,000 cal./mole. This is in close agreement with Kuczynski and also values obtained by other workers using the radioactive tracer method.