An analysis of the capillary force and optimum liquid volume in a transient liquid phase sintering process

A transient liquid phase sintering process, called the ISM (in situ microfusion) process, has been developed for AlFe alloys, where an exothermic reaction in the system is utilized to produce a small volume of liquid and densify the powder compact. The model of an interparticle force, due to the capillary action of a liquid in contact with two solid spheres, and the optimum liquid volume, in the rearrangement process for full densification in conventional liquid phase sintering, are no longer thought to be suitable for this particular process. A model has been established for the ISM process, in which two partly melted spheres are attracted by the molten liquid between them and the liquid volume is equal to that melted from the two spheres. Based on this system, the interparticle force two partly melted spheres was calculated and the optimum liquid volume estimated for the ISM process, both of which are in good agreement with previous experimental work.