ABSTRACT
The reader will recall from Chapter 1 the basic types of sintering processes: solid-state sintering, liquid-phase sintering, viscous sintering, and vitrification. This chapter is devoted to an analysis of densification in solid-state and viscous sintering. The analysis of the densification process, by itself, is not very useful. We must also understand how the microstructure of the powder system evolves during sintering, which forms the subject of Chapter 3. To complete the picture of the basic theory and principles of sintering, liquid-phase sintering and vitrification are considered in Chapter 4.
