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Title: Investigation of the sintering kinetics of lead powders. Final technical report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5282316· OSTI ID:5282316

An analysis of the parameters involved in the sintering of lead powders under vacuum has been made. Sintering was accomplished at temperatures between 250/sup 0/ and 280/sup 0/C. Evaluation of surface area reduction data results in values of the mechanism exponent N between 5.3 and 6.7. Lack of shrinkage and the low vapor pressure of lead at the experimental temperatures lead to the conclusion that surface diffusion is the rate-controlling sintering mechanism. However, comparison of the experimentally measured activation energy, 170 kJ/mol (40.7 Kcal/mol), to that reported in the literature for surface self-diffusion of lead showed a significant discrepancy. Effects of pore isolation and surface oxide layers are proposed as possible explanations for this discrepancy as well as the deviation in the N values from those obtained theoretically. An attempt to isolate the effect of the oxide layer was made by sintering lead in a hydrogen atmosphere. Under these conditions, sintering is accompanied by shrinkage, thus indicating the presence of bulk-transport process. A mechanism exponent corresponding to viscous flow sintering was obtained. Furthermore, the calculated activation energy for this process was in good agreement with that reported for creep in lead.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
5282316
Report Number(s):
UCRL-13775; TRN: 78-003870
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English