Publisher's Synopsis
Although sintering in some form is among the oldest of the technologies known to man, the level of understanding that he has of the problem is still in its infancy. Many interrelated and interacting phenomena occur as a compact of powder particles undergoes the morphological changes that are called sintering. The lack of understanding of sintering is manifested in the diversity of opinions as to the mechanisms of the process, and the inability to predict the sintering behavior of materials. The possible exception to this is in the case of simple glasses, for which the sintering mechanism is viscous flow. The global powder metallurgy market has continued to benefit from the revival in the automotive industry while emerging applications are expected to further drive demand for powder metallurgy (PM) components in the near future. Sintering is the mainstay of a typical PM process in the production of various types of PM components, whether they are pore-free, nearly pore-free, or porous. In the past few years, the use of ceramic materials has significantly increased in various applications due to the unique characteristics of these materials in comparison with metals and polymers. The advantageous properties of ceramic materials are hardness, rigidity, abrasive toughness and low density. In addition, superior combinations of thermal, insulating, and mechanical properties have become the basis of huge applications in the packaging of microelectronics and power semiconductors. Therefore, ceramic materials have now become the cornerstone of such advanced technologies as energy transformation, storage and supply, information technology, transportation systems, medical technology, and manufacturing technology. In addition to these trends, present-day environmental regulations and awareness and the recycling of materials will affect the use of materials and require less expensive production processes. Sintering of Advanced Materials examines important developments in this technology and its applications. It studies advanced sintering processes including atmospheric sintering, vacuum sintering, microwave sintering, field/current assisted sintering and photonic sintering. It shields sintering of aluminum, titanium and their alloys, refractory metals, ultrahard materials, thin films, ultrafine and nanosized particles for advanced materials. This Compendium will be of valuable for researchers and engineers involved in the processing of ceramics, powder metallurgy, net-shape manufacturing and those using advanced materials in such sectors as electronics, automotive and aerospace engineering.
