| Abstract Scope |
The application of powder technologies to complex parts made of multiple materials and hierarchically porous structures has been a long-standing engineering challenge. Their processing, and particularly their sintering, is prone to be affected by anisotropy, distortions and cracking.
However such materials are gaining increasing relevance for their applications as functional membranes, fuel cells, batteries, and more. The raising field of Additive Manufacturing (AM) is introducing previously unthinkable design freedom, but also additional new challenges in terms of shape retention and shrinkage anisotropy in the following sintering steps. By modeling the sintering process in a simple finite-element-based platform, strategies to minimize these issues are defined. The stresses developed at the interfaces turn out to be key, and process optimization guidelines are drawn based both on the interface geometry and on the sintering routine. Strategies to maximize process efficiency and uniformity with field-assisted sintering techniques are also outlined. |