Kinetics of viscous flow sintering of glass–zircon composites. Effect of zircon volume fraction and particle size distribution

Abstract

Viscous flow sintering of glass–zircon composites was studied by isothermal and constant-rate heating experiments. The sintering curves fitted very well to the developed kinetic model, based on the Kohlrausch–Williams–Watts (KWW) function. Increasing the zircon volume fraction and decreasing the zircon–glass particle size ratio was verified to slow down the sintering rate. The combined effect of these variables on sintering was interpreted on the basis of percolation theory. The influence of temperature on the composite sintering rate corresponded to the influence of this variable on glass matrix flowability. Dimensionless relationships between the kinetic parameters and zircon volume fraction and the particle size ratio were obtained, which were independent of the thermal treatment used.

Keywords

• Sintering kinetics
• Glass-ceramic composites
• Percolation