Sintering Fundamentals: Historical Aspects

Abstract

Sintering as a technology has been followed from ancient times. However, as science it emerged in 1940s with the seminal work of Frenkel, Huettig, Kuczynski, Lenel, Kingery and Hausner. The present paper covers the historical aspects of sintering fundamentals , right from solid state sintering to liquid phase sintering, activated sintering, electronic theory of sintering, sintering with external pressure, constrain sintering etc. Various mechanisms of sintering with their microstructural relationships have been highlighted. A generalized approach to sintering is called for, which may to great extent bridge the gap between sintering theory and practice.