Powder Metallurgy

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Multiphysic coupling and full cycle simulation of

microwave sintering applied to a ceramic compact
obtained by ceramic injection moulding

J. Shi, Z. Cheng, T. Barriere, B. Liu & J. C. Gelin

To cite this article: J. Shi, Z. Cheng, T. Barriere, B. Liu & J. C. Gelin (2017): Multiphysic coupling
and full cycle simulation of microwave sintering applied to a ceramic compact obtained by ceramic
injection moulding, Powder Metallurgy, DOI: 10.1080/00325899.2017.1317451

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00325899.2017.1317451

Published online: 01 May 2017.

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POWDER METALLURGY, 2017
https://doi.org/10.1080/00325899.2017.1317451

Multiphysic coupling and full cycle simulation of microwave sintering applied

to a ceramic compact obtained by ceramic injection moulding
J. Shia,b,c, Z. Chengb, T. Barrierec, B. Liub and J. C. Gelinc
a
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Southwest University of Science and Technology Mianyang, China; bSchool of Mechanics and
Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University Chengdu, China; cDepartment of Applied Mechanics, University Bourgogne-Franche-Comté,
COMUE UBFC, Femto-ST Institute, Besançon, France

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Microwave sintering represents the coupling of multiple physical phenomena. It involves the Received 22 February 2016
distribution of electromagnetic fields, heat generation by electromagnetic effects, heat Accepted 4 April 2017
conduction in the material, and evolution of the densification in the sintered components.
KEYWORDS
This paper describes the mathematical models and the numerical methods used to simulate Microwave sintering; powder
the complex sintering process. Simulation results are provided for the prediction of shrinkage compacts; microwave
and evolution of the relative density of the sintered materials. A full cycle simulation of the numerical simulation;
microwave sintering process have been realized on the COMSOL Multiphysics finite element multiphysics; powder
software platform. This work provides an important approach to studying the process of injection moulding
microwave sintering. The simulation results for sintering submicron zirconia powders are
compared with experimental results in terms of the relative densities of the sintered material.

List of symbols microwaves. An area of microwave processing that

E electric field has received a lot of attention is ceramic processing
H magnetic field since ceramics have low thermal conductivities and
mr relative complex permeability are processed at high temperatures. The energy of the
1r relative complex permittivity
1′r dielectric constant microwaves penetrates into the media in the form of
1′′r permittivity electromagnetic waves and results in heating by dielec-
m′′r permeability tric losses. This energy is transformed into molecular
sEC electric conductivity
kinetic energy and then into thermal energy in the
r density
rr relative density materials. Since heat is generated inside the materials,
CP heat capacity together with vibrations caused by the microwaves at
k thermal conductivity high frequency, the temperature of sintered materials
T temperature
P absorbed power density can be increased efficiently. Moreover, the kinetic
tr(1̇) trace of total strain rate energy of molecules and ions in the materials is
1̇ tensor of total strain rate increased by the action of electromagnetic waves.
1̇e elastic strain rate
1̇th thermal strain rate
They also increase the diffusion effect of densification.
1̇vp viscoplastic strain rate These properties are very advantageous for improving
s stress tensor in sintered materials the uniformity of sintered materials at micro and meso
s′ deviatoric stress tensor scales [1]. They exhibit an important potential for uni-
tr s trace of the stress tensor
ss sintering stress form and rapid processing with high production
I second-order identity tensor efficiency [2]. Moreover, microwave heating is selective
GP shear viscosity modulus [3] and generates less pollution [4]; it can be widely
KP bulk viscosity modulus
a coefficient of thermal dilatation used in actual production.
Ee elastic modulus As a combination of the technologies of powder
y Poisson’s ratio metallurgy and microwave heating, microwave sinter-
sair electric conductivity of air
ing has been extensively studied experimentally. Taka-
hashi et al. [5] manufactured a zirconate titanate
1. Introduction
actuator in 2001; Anjana et al. [6] performed research
Research on microwave sintering of powder compacts on Ce2(WO4)3 ceramics at low temperatures. Since
has significant theoretical and industrial value. Heating 1999, after Roy et al. [7] successfully sintered metallic
and sintering by microwaves depends on the sensitivity powder in a microwave field, a wide range of standard
of the response of the sintered materials to the metallic powders have been processed with microwave

CONTACT T. Barriere thierry.barriere@univ-fcomte.fr Department of Applied Mechanics, University Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, COMUE UBFC,
Femto-ST Institute, Besançon, 24 Rue de l’Epitaphe, 25030 Besançon, France
© 2017 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining Published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Institute
2 J. SHI ET AL.
sintering. The author’s team has long-term experience
with powder injection moulding (PIM) and micro-PIM
technologies, mainly focused on the development of
new feedstock formulations [8], modelling and identi-
fication of physical material parameters [9], a math-
ematical model proposed for bi-phase fluid flow [10],
and an experimental and numerical analysis of the con-
ventional thermal sintering process [11]. Furnaces for
microwave sintering have been equipped by the
research team for further investigation of the sintering
mechanism by microwave heating.
Microwave sintering requires the coupling of
phenomena from several physical fields. It includes
the coupling of electromagnetic fields, thermal conduc-
tion and the densification process of sintered powders.
In a realistic simulation of the microwave sintering
process, these complicated coupling phenomena must
be taken into account. Most of the literature focuses
on analysis of the microwave heating process. Iskander
et al. used a finite difference method to simulate sinter-
ing experiments in multi-mode microwave cavities
[12]. Campañone et al. [13] developed a simulation
of the heating of foods in microwave ovens. Kozlov
et al. [14] proposed and tested simple semi-analytical
models based on a piecewise constant approximation
to the material properties. Shukla et al. [15] compared
the temperature distribution within cylindrical samples
heated in a microwave furnace with those achieved in a
radiatively heated conventional furnace. Kumar et al.
[16] studied the simulation of grain coarsening during
the sintering process. Other papers [12–15] are focused
on macro models that couple microwave heating and
thermal conduction; nevertheless none of them dealt
with the densification process of powder compacts
during microwave sintering.
As a combination of powder metallurgy and micro-
wave heating technology, microwave sintering has been
extensively studied experimentally. With regards to
simulation, most of the literature is focused on analysis
of the microwave heating process. Macro models that
couple microwave heating and thermal conduction
have been proposed. However, the densification pro-
cess of powdered material during microwave sintering
has not been integrated into the simulation of micro-
wave sintering. This process represents the final step
of microwave sintering. The present paper focuses on
the modelling and simulation of the entire microwave
sintering process and on how to introduce the sintering
behaviours of sintered powder compact into the simu-
lation. These behaviours present the specific reaction of
sintered material to the microwave heating process. A
mathematical model is established to describe the
cycle of microwave sintering. Based on a thermo-
elasto-viscoplastic model proposed by Zhang and
Gasik [17], a sintering model was developed by Qui-
nard et al. [18] and Song et al. [19]. The sintering beha-
viours of compacts formed by 316L stainless steel
powders [18] and alumina powders were studied
using a conventional sintering furnace [19] by means
of a dilatometer. A macro model to describe shrinkage
phenomena of the radiatively heated sintering process
was established. These constitutive laws are adopted
in the present paper for modelling of the microwave
sintering process. A preliminary numerical simulation
has also been developed using the finite element solver
COMSOL Multiphysics. It results in a 3D simulation of
microwave sintering in a multi-mode cavity. The coup-
ling of the microwave electric field, thermal conduction
and sintering densification of the powdered material is
achieved in simulation. To demonstrate possible uses
for the model, a simulation of microwave sintering of
submicron zirconia powders is presented.
2. Mathematical model of microwave
sintering
The heating of materials by microwaves is the result of
energy dissipation of the electromagnetic field during
its propagation. To simulate microwave sintering, five
main aspects of the mathematical model must be
established:
2.1. Solve Maxwell’s equations to determine the
electromagnetic fields in the cavity of the
furnace
The governing equations of the electromagnetic field at
a macroscopic scale are Maxwell’s equations. In the
present studies, the fields are affected by the shaped
components of non-ferromagnetic or ceramic powders.
The heating effect of the magnetic field component of a
microwave is very small compared to the effect of the
electric field [20]. Therefore, the effect of the magnetic
field is not taken into account. The distribution of the
electric field in the cavity of the furnace can be com-
puted by solving Equation (1), as demonstrated in [20]:
∇ × m−1
r (∇ × E) − v 1r E = 0
2
(1)
where 1r = 1′r − i1′′r is the relative complex per-
meability, 1r = 1′r − i1′′r is the strength of electric
field, ω/2π is the excitation frequency of the electromag-
netic radiation, and 1r = 1′r − i1′′r is the relative com-
plex permittivity, which can be expressed by:
1r = 1′r − i1′′r (2)
where 1′r and 1′′r are, respectively, the dielectric constant
and dielectric loss factors which quantify the capacitive
and conductive components of the dielectric response.
1′r is the real part of the dielectric constant, and 1′′r is
the imaginary parts of the permittivity, which is an
important parameter that determines the dissipation
of the electric field. Another commonly used term for
expressing the dielectric response is the loss tangent,

1′′ r
tan d = . At the macroscopic level, the dielectric
1′ r
properties control the microwave processing of a wide
range of non-magnetic materials through the quantitat-
ive relationship between the absorbed power per unit
volume P and the skin depth [20]. Inside the heating
chamber, the volume is divided into two parts: one
part is the space occupied by the sintered compact,
and the rest of the space is vacuum, with a different
value of 1r . During the sintering process, electromag-
netic parameters such as 1r and mr etc., are functions
of temperature and the relative density of the sintered
powder. The relative density ρ is defined as the ratio
of the density during sintering divided by the density
of the pore-free material. The relative density has a
strong influence on the heat conductivity and on the
electric properties. These parameters are still unknown
exactly, as research is still needed to calibrate the par-
ameters. In simulations, the reference values of zirconia
powder are taken from Santos et al. [21].
2.2. Solve for the distribution of the heat
generation during the process of microwave
sintering
The resistance heat generated by the electromagnetic
field or the energy dissipated during microwave heat-
ing is the result of absorption of the microwave
power in the material [21]. It can be determined by
Equation (3):
1 is caused by growth and boundary diffusion of the
P = [(sEC + v1′′r )E2 + vm′′r H 2 ] (3)
2 grains. The mechanical model on a macroscopic scale
where P, sEC and sEC are the absorbed power den-
sity, and the absorbed electric and magnetic fields,
respectively. sEC is the electric conductivity,
1r = 1′r − i1′′r is the angular frequency of the micro-
wave source, and 1′′r and m′′r are the imaginary
parts of the permittivity and permeability of the sin-
tered materials, respectively.
The present study is focused on the powder of non-
magnetic materials. Therefore, the second term on the
right hand side of Equation (3) can be neglected [20,21].
2.3. Solution of heat transfer equations to
compute the temperature field in the sintered
body
In microwave heating, the sintered body is regarded as
a dissipative medium for the transmission of micro-
waves. The dissipation of microwave energy in the
medium is treated as a source of the heat, which
increases the temperature in the heated body. In the
heating process, inhomogeneity of the dissipated
energy is the result of an uneven distribution of the
electromagnetic field. The result is a non-uniform dis-
tribution of the temperature. The process of heat
POWDER METALLURGY 3
transfer in the material during microwave heating
can be simulated by solving the Fourier’s heat Equation
(4). This equation couples the distribution of the temp-
erature field with the thermal energy generated in the
material. For the ceramic powder compact sample
exposed to microwaves, this is:
∂T
rCP = k∇2 T + P (4)
∂t
where r is the relative density of the material, CP is the
specific heat capacity, k is the effective thermal conduc-
tivity, T is the temperature and P is a volumetric
source term due to microwave power absorption. Chat-
terjee et al. [22] used the following relation
1 ′
P = v1o 1r E where 10 is the free space permittivity.
2
The thermodynamic parameters such as CP and k
depend on the relative density of the material and its
temperature. Specific experimental measurements are
still required for calibration of the constants. The
values referenced in the literature are adopted in the
present studies.
2.4. Solve the governing equations of sintering
densification to get the structural response of
the sintered body
The green parts of PIM materials after injection
moulding and debinding consist of porous powders;
see Figure 1. The densification process during sintering
is based on principles of continuum mechanics. An
analogous viscoplastic constitutive law is adopted to
describe densification behaviour of the powders. In
addition, the effects of elasticity and thermal expansion
are taken into account.
The sintering process represents the coupling of
several thermo-mechanical phenomena. The densifica-
tion process of sintered materials is governed by the
evolution of the temperature field. It includes the tra-
ditional governing equations of the mechanical
model, such as the equations for equilibrium and com-
patibility [23]. These traditional equations are not pre-
sented here. The specific equations for simulation of
the sintering process include the equation of mass
conservation and the sintering constitutive laws. The
equation of mass conservation takes the form:
ṙ + r · tr(1̇) = 0 (5)
where r is density of the sintered material; tr(1̇) is the
trace of the total strain rate. The tensor of the total
strain rate 1̇ consists of three parts: the elastic strain
rate 1̇e , the thermal strain rate 1̇th and the viscoplastic
strain rate 1̇vp .
1̇ = 1̇e + 1̇th + 1̇vp (6)
4 J. SHI ET AL.
Figure 1. Sequential stages for obtaining the final ceramic sintered parts. The sintering stage can be processed using conventional
resistance heating or microwave methods.
The elastic constitutive law for determining the elastic
strain rate 1̇e and the constitutive law for thermal
expansion to determine the thermal strain rate are
the traditional ones [24]. The viscoplastic strain rate
1̇vp and the related constitutive equation, which
represents the macroscopic response to the sintering
process, is a key requirement for the sintering simu-
lation. By virtue of the model established by Kraft
and Riedel [25], the viscoplastic constitutive law for
the sintering process of powder materials is provided
by Equation (7):
s′ tr s − 3ss
1̇vp = + I
2GP 9KP
where s is the stress tensor in sintered materials, s′ is
the deviatoric stress tensor, tr s is trace of the stress
tensor, ss represents the sintering stress, and I is
the second-order identity tensor. GP and KP are the
shear and bulk viscosity moduli of the porous
material, respectively. GP and KP are determined by
means of experimental calibration of the uniaxial vis-
cosity and the viscous Poisson ratio. ss is a function of
the apparent density, surface energy and particle sizes.
It should be calibrated experimentally by sintering the
specimens in a dilatometer using different kinetics
[19]. In the FE simulation for microwave sintering,
it is a function of density and the process temperature.
To realise the simulation of the sintering process,
the thermal expansion coefficient a for sintered
material, and the material parameters related to elastic
deformation are required, too. These parameters are a
function of density and temperature in the sintering
process, which are expressed illustratively by:
a = a(r, T), Ee = Ee (r, T), y = y(r, T) (8)
where Ee is the elastic modulus of the porous material,
and y is Poisson’s ratio of the sintered material.
2.5. Coupling of Maxwell’s equations, the heat
transfer equation and the mechanical equations
The process of microwave sintering includes three
types of the physical phenomena. One is the trans-
mission of microwave energy in the heating cavity.
Part of the microwave energy is converted into
(7) heat energy because of its dissipation during the
transmission. The second one is the process of
heat transfer. Because of the uneven distribution of
the electric field in the heating cavity, it generates
heat inhomogeneously in the sintered material as
well. The third one is the densification process
during sintering. Particles of the powder and grains
of PIM material connect and fuse together while the
pores among the particles are reduced and disappear
gradually, as seen in Figure 1. Macroscopically there
appears to be shrinkage of the sintered product. The
volume is reduced while the density increases. To
consistently model the sintering phenomenon,
equations that describe the evolution of the relative
density and shrinkage must be coupled with the
electric field and energy balance equations. The evol-
ution of relative density and temperature during sin-
tering results in variability of the different
parameters in the physical equations during proces-
sing. The result is the complicated coupling of
different physics [26].

Figure 2. The coupling of multiphysics in a full cycle simulation of microwave sintering with COMSOL Multiphysics finite element
software.
3. Numerical simulation of the microwave
sintering process
3.1. Model definition
Microwave sintering is the process of realising sintering
densification by microwave heating. Modelling the
process involves the solution of steady state equations
by frequency domain analysis of the electromagnetic
fields to determine the distribution of generated heat.
The temperature distribution in the sintered body is
obtained by a transient simulation of the heat transfer.
Evolution of the relative density and shrinkage of the
PIM material is achieved by mechanical simulation of
the sintering process.
An incremental algorithm is applied for time inte-
gration of the mathematical model, in which the pro-
cesses of microwave sintering of PIM materials are
described. The governing equations for the three types
of the above-mentioned physical phenomena are solved
in fractional steps. In each time step, the distribution of
the electric field at that instant is solved by direct
methods, while the temperature field and evolution of
the densification is iteratively solved. The coupling
among the three different physical processes is realised
in increments of time steps. In the solution process,
the dissipated energy is introduced into the heat transfer
equation (Equation (4)) as an internal heating source.
Then, the distribution of the temperature field is solved
and introduced into the solution of constitutive equation
and densification equation. Their solutions define the
evolution of densification and shape deformation during
the full cycle of the sintering process.
In principle, the electromagnetic and thermal par-
ameters are not the constants. These material par-
ameters vary as a function of material density and
temperature. The field variables are then solved with
the updated parameters of the incremental solutions.
These cyclic incremental steps run forward until the
prescribed sintering process is finished. Therefore,
the simulation process of microwave sintering is the
cyclic solutions of Maxwell’s equations, the heat trans-
fer equation, as well as the structural equilibrium
equation, the material densification equation and the
constitutive equation. This simulation procedure has
POWDER METALLURGY 5
been carried out for 3D examples with COMSOL
Multiphysics finite element software. The flow chart
of the coupled multiphysics simulation procedure has
been described, as shown in Figure 2. It includes use
of the electromagnetism, heat transfer and structure
analysis modules along with the implemented sintering
densification module. Coupling of the above-
mentioned multiphysics is realised by the functions
of the COMSOL package. These physical phenomena
(electric, temperature, displacement fields) are
implemented with tetrahedral elements in the COM-
SOL software library. The Petrov–Galerkin method is
used to build the procedures for the FEM solution of
the governing equations.
The cavity of the microwave furnace is regarded as a
metal box. A microwave source of 2.45 GHz is con-
nected with continuously adjustable output power.
Two different microwave powers are applied in the
studies: input power 500 W for case 1 and input
power 1 kW for case 2.
As magnetic effects are ignored in the present studies,
the microwave source is set to be the transverse electric
(TE) wave. Wall surfaces of the furnace and wave guide
are regarded as perfect electrical conductors.
The shaped body of the ceramic powder of submi-
cron zirconia particles is modelled in simulation. Refer-
ring to Bouvard et al. [27], its physical parameters are
shown in Table 1. It should be mentioned that exper-
imental measurements of these parameters are still not
Table 1. The reference physical parameters of zirconia
powder, as shown in [27].
Electromagnetic parameters
Air in the cavity: sair = 0, mr air = 1r air = 1;
Sintered compact: 1r = 10 − i0.1e0.0017(T−293) , mr = 1.
Heat transfer parameters
Thermal conductivity: k = 30rr W m−1 k−1 with rr is relative density;
Density: r = 6000rr kg m−3;
Heat capacity: CP = 900k J kg−1k−1;
Initial temperature: T0 = 293K.
Densification process
Thermal expansion coefficient: a = 1.2 × 10−2 /K;
Poisson’s ratio: y = 0.33;
Shear viscosity modulus: GP = 1 × 1011 Pa;
Bulk viscosity modulus KP = 1 × 1011 Pa;
Initial density: rr0 = 0.65.
Note: Some of the above parameters are the initial ones. For the ones
with unknown variation, constant values are taken in the present
simulation.
6 J. SHI ET AL.
Figure 3. Distribution of the electric field in an empty cavity.
all available. The related physical parameters, such as
relative permittivity, conductivity, etc., as well as the
analogous viscoplastic constitutive law for sintering of
powder compacts, are still current research topics in
materials science. The values retrieved from the litera-
ture represent our limited knowledge. However, the
true material parameters are of prime importance for
accurate simulation of the microwave sintering process.
3.2. Results and discussion
The finite element package COMSOL Multiphysics
is employed in the present research. Solutions are
realised using its non-linear solver. Therefore, com-
putational costs will be reasonable, and half of the
geometric model is chosen for the subsequent analy-
sis based on the symmetry of the problem. To deter-
mine a suitable position for the sintered compact in
the cavity of the microwave furnace, the distribution
of the electric field in an empty cavity is first
Figure 4. The optimal placement of a ceramic powder of sub-
micronic zirconia particles obtained by the ceramic injection
moulding process inside the microwave sintering furnace.
Figure 5. Geometric dimensions of the ceramic sintered
compact.
analysed. The result is shown in Figure 3. The sin-
tered compact should be placed at the position of
the peak electric field, located in the middle of the
cavity, as shown in Figure 4. Then, the sintered
material will absorb as much energy as possible
from the microwaves. Geometric dimensions of the
ceramic compact and its 3D mesh representation
are shown in Figures 5 and 6, respectively.
To simplify the model, it is assumed that the outer
surface of the sintered compact interacts adiabatically
with the environment in the furnace chamber. For the
solution of the evolution of heat transfer, the strain–
stress structural response and relative density, only the
region of the sintered compact is considered in the simu-
lation. Analysis of these effects in the void space of the
cavity is not performed because of its unimportance.
The values of important variables in a cross section
inside the sintering compact are investigated to study
the evolution of the sintering process. The analysis
includes the distribution and variation of temperature,
displacement and the determination of the final relative
Figure 6. 3D mesh of the ceramic compact for sintering in the
COMSOL Multiphysics finite element software.

Figure 7. Temperature field distribution cross section for
500 W microwave power when undergoing sintering for
1500 s with the ceramic behaviour and electromagnetic par-
ameters defined in Table 1. Hatched areas are the sintering
ceramic.
density. This cross section is set in a special plane
located at the middle of the ceramic injection moulding
compact, coincident with the symmetry plane (z =
0.134 m plane, filled with slashes, shown in Figure 5).
The ceramic powder volume loading after the injec-
tion and debinding stages using optimal parameters is
considered homogeneous using the same methodology
previously developed by Shi et al. [28]. The relative
density imposed at the beginning of the sintering
stage is 0.65. The temperature field distribution in
this cross section, after heating for 1500 s (25 min)
with 500 kW microwave power (case 1), using the cer-
amic behaviour and electromagnetic parameters
defined in Table 1, is shown in Figure 7. It represents
the duration of the entire process of microwave sinter-
ing. The results at six time points are recorded by the
Figure 8. Horizontal (x-direction) displacement field in the cer-
amic compact component in the cross section after undergoing
sintering for 1500 s (case 1: 500 W microwave power).
POWDER METALLURGY 7
Figure 9. Resultant displacement field in the cross section after
undergoing sintering for 1500 s (case 1: 500 W microwave
power).
simulation for further investigation. The six time
points are chosen to be at equal intervals of the process
of 1500 s. The peak value of the temperature reaches
approximately 1650 K near the centre of the sintered
compact. The temperature gradient is moderate within
the compact. The temperature in the ceramic becomes
homogeneous and reaches saturation after approxi-
mately 1500 s when radiation losses balance the
absorbed microwave power. The distribution of the
displacement in the horizontal direction at that time
and case 1 is shown in Figure 8. The magnitude of
the resultant displacement at the same time and case
1 is shown in Figure 9. The obvious shrinkage towards
the centre and bottom of the compact can be observed,
which accurately represents the effect of densification.
The final relative density throughout the field is greater
than 0.9 and can be seen in Figure 10.
Figure 10. Final relative density field on the cross section after
undergoing sintering for 1500 s (case 1: 500 W microwave
power).
8 J. SHI ET AL.

Table 2. The resultant relative density (D) and sintering temperature (T ) versus time during the
whole sintering process with input power 1 kW and 500 W.

Figure 11. Distributions of final relative density for two different MW sintering conditions: (left) 500 W input power (case 1), sinter-
ing process 1500 s , integrated final relative density 92%. right) 1 kW input power (case 2), sintering process 1000 s , integrated final
relative density 91.4%.

As shown in Table 2, the durations for whole sin-
tering process are not the same for different input
powers. The higher input power leads to more
energy absorption, greater heating rate, and then it
shortens the whole sintering time. For the case 2
with 1 kW input power, the whole sintering time is
about 900 s to reach the highest relative density for
the prescribed sintering conditions. While for the
case 1 with 500 W input power, it needs longer
Figure 12. 3D shrinkage from debinded to sintered com-
ponent, illustration for both case 1 and case 2.
time 1500 s to finish the whole sintering process.
The disctibutions of final relative density forcases 1
and 2 are shown in Figure 11. The result of simu-
lation for case 1, with lower heating rate, shows
higher final relative density.
The 3D shrinkage from debinded to sintered com-
ponents is shown in Figure 12 for both cases 1 and
case 2. Because of the slight difference, one figure is
used to illustrate two similar cases. For both the two
sintering conditions, the integrated volume shrinkage
is about of 6–7%.
With the microwave sintering kinetics that were
imposed, the sintering temperature reaches nearly to
the melting point of submicron zirconia powder. The
sintering process is then controlled to run with the suit-
able cycles. The result is a product with nearly full den-
sities that have been achieved in the experiments. Since
the relative permittivity of the material is a function of
temperature, the dielectric loss factor increases with the
increase of temperature. Therefore, generation of
resistance heat in the material is very small in the initial
stages of microwave heating. In the first 10 min, there
is no obvious variation in temperature and relative
density in the material. After 10 min, the temperature
increases at a strong rate in the PIM material as it
reaches its peak value. The relative density also

Figure 13. Evolution of heat generation during the entire
microwave sintering process.
increases continuously with the increase in tempera-
ture. In the end, the sintered sample can achieve
near-full densification (relative density greater than
92%). The variations discussed can be observed in
Figures 13 and 14. When the power of the microwave
source is set to a constant value of 1 kW and a fre-
quency of 2.45 GHz, the temperature in the material
increases continuously. By regulating the input power
Figure 14. Evolution of the relative density vs. temperature and time during the entire microwave sintering process.
Figure 15. The experimental and the numerical results for relative density in conventional sintering and microwave sintering when
undergoing the same heating process to the peak sintering temperature of approximately 1633 K.
POWDER METALLURGY 9
of the microwave source, the sintering process can be
controlled to get to a holding stage and then a cooling
stage. For evaluating the simulation result, our exper-
imental results and the experimental results from
Charmond et al. [29] can be used to make compari-
sons. Specimens made using spray-dried 2 mol-%
yttria-doped zirconia nanopowders have been investi-
gated by Charmond and al. [29]. They concluded
that the sintered material showed poor coupling with
the microwaves below 673 K and moderate coupling
above, which agrees well with the simulation result.
With the same maximal sintering temperature of
approximately 1633 K, the corresponding final relative
density using conventional sintering, microwave
sintering and the simulation result can be seen in
Figure 15. The final relative density is approximately
91.4, 98.6 and 92%, respectively. The result of the simu-
lation is slightly lower than the experimental results, as
the sintering model for the present simulation is not
precisely calibrated. There is a difference of 7%
between the simulation and experimental results. For
some parameters with unknown variability, constant
values are used in the present simulation. Therefore,
the simulated evolution of relative density represents
the use of reference values.
10 J. SHI ET AL.
4. Conclusion and outlook
To simulate the entire microwave sintering process,
modelling of multiple physical phenomena from
microwave heating to densification of the compact
powder has been performed. The process of microwave
sintering includes coupling the phenomena of electro-
magnetism, heat transfer and sintering densification.
Based on an analysis of the principles of microwave
sintering, the governing equations which describe the
three main physical phenomena are provided. Specifi-
cally, the constitutive law for sintering behaviour, based
on previous work of the research team, has been
implemented into the FE package COMSOL to realise
this coupled multi-phasic simulation. The parameters
in the equations have been analysed to identify their
dependence on other factors. The methods used to
determine the parameter values are discussed. The
specific configuration of microwave furnace in the lab-
oratory is taken into account in the simulation. The RF,
heat transfer and structural mechanics modules in the
COMSOL package have been employed. The constitu-
tive laws, which describe sintering densification of PIM
materials at high temperatures, are implemented into
the structural analysis. Finally, the results of the simu-
lation have been analysed. There is a discrepancy of 7%
between the output of the simulation and the exper-
imental results. This work provides an effective method
for the further analysis and acquisition of knowledge
on microwave sintering. For more accurate simu-
lations, accurate parameters and constitutive laws for
PIM materials are required. In addition, external effects
such as boundary conditions, gravitation and friction,
should be taken into account. It is of great importance
to study and acquire these parameters and relation-
ships. Determining the parameters of sintered
materials using microwave sintering should be
achieved reliably by experimental means in future
work.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work is financially supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11502219) and
Doctoral Research Foundation of Southwest University of
Science and Technology (Grant No. 14zx7139). The authors
also wish to thank Femto-ST Institute for experiment and
simulation support.
Notes on contributors
J. Shi is a Chinese university lecturer in School of Civil
Engineering and Architecture, Southwest University of
Science and Technology, Mianyang, China. He is a co-tutorial
PhD of Mechanical and Mechanics in France and in China.
His research interests include Prototyping manufacturing
mechanics, simulation of multiphysics fields, modeling of
microwave sintering and injection moulding processes.
He is a fellow of the Chinese National Natural Science
Foundation in 2015.
Z. Cheng is the professor of the Department of Applied
Mechanics, Southwest Jiaotong University in China. His
main research activity is devoted to the material forming,
the structure safety evaluation and numerical simulation.
Since 2011, having more than 50 papers in national and
international journal.
T. Barriere is a professor of the University Franche-Comté
and at Femto-ST Institute at the Applied Mechanic Depart-
ment, Besancon, France. His main research activity is
devoted to the material forming process, the powder forming
and the high loaded polymer. Since 2010, having more than
150 papers in national and international conferences.
B. Liu is the professor of the Department of Applied Mech-
anics, Southwest Jiaotong University in China. His main
research activity is devoted to the material forming process,
the numerical simulation and powder forming process. Since
1990, having more than 120 papers in national and inter-
national journal.
J. C. Gelin is a professor of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de
Mécanique et de Microtechniques, Besançon, France. His
main research activity is devoted to the material forming
and micro manufacturing process, the powder forming and
the high loaded polymer. Since 1988, having more than
250 papers in national and international conferences.
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